Gervasius and Protasius
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| Year of publication | 2024 |
| Type | Chapter of a book |
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| Description | Gervasius and Protasius (It. Gervasio e Protasio, Fr. Gervais et Protais), martyrs of unascertained historicity, whose bodies were miraculously discovered by Bishop Ambrose in Milan on 17 June 386. The inventio martyrum, one of the first of its kind, and the subsequent spread of their relics (of blood) are testified in contemporary and early medieval sources (Paulinus of Milan, Vita Ambrosii, 14; Aug., Conf., IX.7.16; Aug., Civ. 22.8; Victricius of Rouen, De laude sanctorum, 6; Greg. T., Liber in Gloria Martyrum 46). The hitherto fortunate legend making them twin brothers, sons of saint Vitalis of Ravenna and killed in the second century CE, was likely written in the second half of the fifth century. The cult of Gervasius and Protasius spread and was nurtured mainly in the territories of what is now northern Italy and France. |