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 OERVASIUS

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OERY

cal excerpts from it (Hanover, 1S5G). The references to Virgil were published by Spatzier [Altenglische Marchen (Brunswick, 1S30), I, 89-92]. Many of the writings of Gervase have perished. He was for- merly reputed to be the author of the "Antiquus dialogus de scaccario", but many critics now ascribe the work to another writer.

Pauli and Liebermann in Mon. Germ, Hist: Script., XXVII, 362; PoTTHAST, Bibliolheca hislorica medii mvi, I, 507; Wattenbach, Deulschlands Geschichlsquellen C6th ed., Berlin, 1893J, 848-S5; Hdnt in Did. Nat. Biog.,s.v. For extracts from the Otia see J. Stevenson, Radulphi de Cogeshall Chroni- con in Rolls Series (London, 1875), 419-49.

Patricius Schl.igeh.

Gervasius and Protasius, S.^ints, martyrs of Milan, probal)ly in the second century, patrons of the city of Milan and of haymakers; invoked for the dis- covery of thieves. Feast, in the Latin Church, 19 June, the day of the translation of the relics; in the Greek Church, 14 Oct., the supposed clay of their death. Emblems: scourge, club, sword. — The Acts (Acta SS., June, IV, 680 and 29) were perhaps com- piled from a letter (Ep. liii) to the bishops of Italy, falsely ascribed to St. Ambrose. They are written in a very simple style, but it has been found impossible to establish their age. According to these, Ciervasius and Protasius were twins, children of martyrs. Their father Vitalis, a man of consular dignity, suffered martjTilom at Ravenna tmder Nero (?). The mother Valeria died for her faith at Milan. The sons are said to have been scourged and then beheaded, during the reign of Nero, under the presidency of Aiuibinus or Astasius, and while Cajus was Bisliop of Milan. Some authors place the martyrdom muler Diocletian, while others object to this time, because they fail to under- stand how, in that case, the place of burial, and even the names, could be forgotten by the time of St. Am- bro.se, as is stated. De llossi places their death before Diocletian. It probably occurred during the reign of Antoninus (1(51-1GS).

St. Ambrose, in 380, had built a magnificent basilica at Milan. Asked by the people to consecrate it in the same solemn manner as was done in Rome, he prom- ised to tlo so if he could obtain the necessary relics. In a dream he was shown the place in which such could be found. He ordered excavations to be made in the cemetery church of Sts. Nabor and Felix, outside the city, and there found the relics of Sts. Gervasius and Protasius. He had them removed to the church of St. Fausta, and on the next day into the basilica, which later received the name San Ambrogio Mag- giore. Many miracles are related to have occurred, and all greatly rejoiced at the signal favour from heaven, given at the time of the great struggle between St. Ambrose and the Arian Empress Justina. Of the vision, the subsequent discovery of the relics and the accompanying miracles, St. Ambrose wrote to his sister Marcellina. St. Augustine, not yet baptized, witnessed the facts, and relates them in his "Confes- sions", IX, vii; in "De civ. Dei", XXII, viii; and in "Serm. 28G in natal. Ss. Mm. Gerv. et Prot.", they are also attested by St. Paulinus of Nola, in his life of St. Ambrose. The latter died 397 and, as he had wished, his body was, on Easter Sunday, deposited in his basilica by the side of the.se martyrs. In 835, Angil- bert II, a successor in the See of Milan, placed the relics of the three saints in a porphyry sarcophagus, and here they were again foimd, Januarv, 1864 (Civilta Cattoiica, 1864, IX, 608, and XII, 345).

A tradition claims that after the destruction of Milan by Frederick Barbarossa, his chancellor Rainald von Dassel had taken the relics from Milan, and de- posited them at Altbreisach in Germany, whence some came to Soissons; the claim is rejected by Milan (Biraghi, "I tre sepolcri", etc., Milan, 1864). Im- mediately after the finding of the relics by St. Am- brose, the cult of Sts. Ciervasius and Protasius was

spread in Italy, and churches were built in their honour at Pa via, Nola, etc. In Gaul we find churches dedicated to them, about 400, at Mans, Rouen, and Soissons. At the Louvre there is now a famous picture of the saints by Lesueur (d. 1655), which was formerly in their church at Paris. According to the "Liber Pontificalis", Innocent I (402-417) dedicated a church to them at Rome. Later, the name of St. Vitalis, their father, was added to the title. Very early their names were inserted in the Litany of the Saints. The whole history of these saints has re- ceived a great deal of adverse criticism. Some deny their existence, and make them a Christianized version of the Dioscuri of the Romans. Thus Harris, "The Dioscuri in Christian Legend", but see "Analecta Boll." (1904), XXIII, 427.

Stokes in Diet. Christ. Biog., s. v.: Krieg in Kirchenlex., a. v.; Butler, Lives of the Saints (19 June).

Francis Mekshman.

Gery (Lat. GAnGERicu.s), Saint, Bishop of Cambrai- Arras; b. of Roman parents, Gaudentius and Austadi- ola, at Eposium (Yvois, t'arignan), France, about the mi<ldle of the sixth century; d. 11 August, between 623 and 626. The Diocese of Cambrai- Arras is of recent date compaied with the more ancient see of Belgium, Tong- res, which dates from the fourth century. The territory, which comprised t he Diocese of Cambrai- .\rras. like that of Tournai and Terouanne, probably cont.-uned Chris- tians before the date of the appearance of its first known bishop, St. Vaast, but their spiritual heatl must have resided at Reims. The great Itarliarian invasion of 406 completely overthrew the ecclesiastical organ- ization, but from the beginning of the Merovingian period the Church began to recover, the Diocese of Arras especially being restored by St. Vaast about the beginning of the sixth century. G^ry was one of his earliest successors. From his youth G^ry led a pious and devout life, and already all things combined to prepare him for the career of zeal and devotion which he was to embrace later on. During one of his epis- copal visitations, St. Magneric, Bishop of Trier, was struck by the exemplary conduct of the young man, and conceived the project of enrolling him in the ranks of his clerics. Ciery was not ordained deacon, say his biographers, until he knew the whole Psalter by heart. The episcopal See of Cambrai-Arras soon became va- cant, and Ci^ry was calletl to fill it. King Childebert II gave his consent and instructed .(Egidius, Metropol- itan of Reims, to consecrate the new bishop. This installation must have taken place between 585 and 587. Filled with apostolic zeal, Gery devoted his life to the extermination of the paganism which infected the district subject to his authority, and, since the worship of the old gods was deeply rooted in the souls of the barbarous peoples, the bishop destroyed or pur- chased the idols, which were the objects of their ven- eration. He erected the church of St-M^dard in the chief town of Cambrai. He frequently visited the rural districts and the villcB at a distance from his episcopal city, displaying particular solicitude for the ransom of captives.

But political events soon introduced a new domin- ion, when Clotaire II (d. 629) took possession of Cam- brai. The bishop went to pay his respects to the conqueror in his vUla of Chelles, probably in 613. At the command of the king he was compelled to go to the sanctuary and national place of pilgrimage of the Franks, St. Martin of Tours, there to distribute alms to the poor. In October, 614, G^ry assisted at the Council of Paris. He died after an episcopate of thirty-nine years, and was buried in the church of St- Medard at Cambrai. G^ry was honoured with a cult immediately after his death. In the time of his suc- cessor Bertoald his tomb was already the object of fervent veneration, and the monastery of St-M^dard which he had founded profited largely by the offerings