Saint Gorgonius

Gorgonius or Gorgon (Greek: Ἅγιος Γοργόνιος Νικομηδείας) was a Christian who was martyred in AD 304 alongside Peter Cubicularius and a certain Dorotheus at Nicomedia during the Diocletianic Persecution. According to Lactantius and Eusebius, Gorgonius held a high position in the household of the emperor. When the persecution began he was consequently among the first to be charged, and with his companions, Peter, Dorotheus and several others, brutally tortured and then finally strangled. According to one version of the legend, Diocletian, wishing to expose Christians in his household, ordered everyone to pay honor to the Roman gods; if they refused, they would be exposed as Christians. The first to be exposed was Diocletian's butler, Peter, surnamed Cubicularius ("valet, chamberlain"), who was strung up, his flesh torn from his bones. Two Christians, Dorotheus, an imperial chamberlain, and Gorgonius, an army officer, protested this treatment, and were also martyred, together with another official, named Migdonius. In the meantime, Peter was boiled or burned alive, or “roasted on a gridiron.” Diocletian, determined that their bodies should not receive the honors which the early Christians gave the relics of the martyrs, ordered them to be thrown into the sea. The Christians nevertheless obtained possession of them and later the body of Gorgonius was carried to Rome. In the 8th century, the remains were translated by Chrodegang, Bishop of Metz to the monastery of Gorze in Lorraine. Some of the relics were translated to Minden. Many French churches obtained portions of the saint's body from Gorze, but in the chaos of the French Revolution, most of these relics were lost. The feast of Gorgonius and his companions is kept on March 12 by the Roman Catholic Church, and on September 3 by the Eastern Orthodox Church. Saint Gorgonius of Rome, who has sometimes been confused with Gorgonius of Nicomedia, is an early Roman martyr commemorated on 9 September.