Gervase and Protase (of unknown date), protomartyrs of Milan. Their bodies were discovered by Ambrose in 386 on the eve of the dedication of the basilica, which still bears his name. His secretary and biographer Paulinus, together with Augustine, were there at the time and testified to the miracles, especially the restoration to sight of a blind butcher, which accompanied the removal of the relics of two tall headless men from the church of Nabor and Felix to the cathedral. No historical details are known of the lives of these saints: in Milan there were only vague memories of their existence; the later Acta are spurious. J. Rendel Harris asserted that Gervase and Protase were identical with Castor and Pollux, but most hagiographers regard them as genuine martyrs, possibly of the 2nd century, whose memorials had been lost. Ambrose chose to be buried beside them; in the 9th century the relics of all three were placed in a sarcophagus of porphyry, rediscovered in 1864, and still on view today. Feast in many early calendars and martyrologies: 19 June. Church dedication at Little Plumstead (Essex).
Bibliography
Click here for a list of abbreviations used in this bibliography.
- AA.SS. Iun. III (1701), 817–46; H. Delehaye, Les Origines du culte des Martyrs (1912); id., ‘Castor et Pollux dans les légendes hagiographiques’, Anal. Boll., xxiii (1904), 427–32; see also ibid., xlix (1931), 30–5; J. R. Harris, The Dioscori in the Christian Legends (1903)
