A tradition claims that after the destruction of Milan by Frederick Barbarossa, his chancellor Rainald von Dassel had taken the relics from Milan, and deposited them at Altbreisach in Germany, whence some came to Soissons; the claim is rejected by Milan (Biraghi, "I tre sepoleri", etc. Milan, 1864). Immediately after the finding of the relics by St. Ambrose, the cult of Sts. Gervasius and Protasius was spread in Italy, and churches were built in their honour at Pavia, Nola, etc. In Gaul [roughly modern France and Belgium] 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 received 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 Dict. Christ. Biog., s.v.; KRIEG in Kirchenlex., s.v.; BUTLER, Lives of the Saints (19 June).

Baring-Gould’s sources: Roman Martyrology. Authority: — An account which is falsely attributed to S. Ambrose. The account is very simple in style, and it is impossible to conjecture its date. It contains no account ot the discovery of the relics by S. Ambrose in 386, so that it is probable that these Acts are earlier, and that the introduction was added later. It has been supposed that because we are told in them that the place where the bodies of the saints were laid had been forgotten, the existence of these saints must have been forgotton also, but this is by no means self-evident. It was because SS. Or vase and Protasius were regarded as the protomartyrs of Milan that.such rejoicing was manifested at the discovery of their bodies.] [t™05ja|ITALIS, the father of the twins Gervasius and Protasius, was a man of consular rank, MyJm at Milan, who had served in the army wrV^Ml with distinction. He came to Ravenna with the judge Paulinus, whom he assisted in his functions. One day, a Christian physician named Ursicinus, was brought before tribunal, and was sentenced to lose his head. The place of execution was called Ad Palmas, because it was situated at the foot of a clump of old 1 See S. Bruno, Feb. 14.

Gervasius & Protasius. palms. When Ursicinus arrived at the spot, his courage failed, and he would have fallen from the faith, had not Vitalis, regardless of his own safety in his zeal to save his brother, exclaimed, “Ursicinus! say, having reached the palm, will you lose the crown ?” Ursicinus, filled with shame, threw himself on his knees, and bade the executioner strike. For having encouraged the martyr, Vitalis was accused to Paulinus, who ordered a hole to be dug, and Vitalis to be laid in it, and stones to be heaped over him; and thus he gained his reward. His wife, Valeria, was on her way to Milan, when she was met by a party of Bacchantes celebrating the mysteries of Sylvanus. They noisily insisted on her joining in their ceremonies, and when she indignantly refused, the intoxicated pagans fell upon her, and beat her so severely, that she died three days after. Gervasius and Protasius entered into possession of the wealth of their parents, and disposed of it in charity. At the end of ten years, the Roman ‘general, Astasius, was on his way through Milan, to oppose the Marcomanni, when the augurs whom he consulted at Milan informed him that the gods would refuse him success unless he purged the city of certain Christians who derided their worship. Astasius at once gave orders for the arrest of the Christians, and Gervasius and Protasius were brought before him. Gervasius was beaten with leaded whips till he was dead, and then the general endeavoured to persuade his brother to sacrifice. But Protasius declared his readiness to die like his brother, and his head was struck off. In the lapse of time, the place where the martyrs were buried was forgotten, but it was revealed to S. Ambrose [bishop of Milan (d. 397)] in a dream, and he wrote an account of the vision and the subsequent discovery of the bones in a Lives oj the Saints.

letter to his sister, still extant. S. Augustine also mentions the circumstances in his “ De Civitate Dei.” The bones of these two saints were carried away from Milan by the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, and distributed amongst several churches in Germany. Some of the relics [the bodily remains of a saint, or objects they used, kept with honor] are at Soissons; some at Alt Breisach in Breisgau, but these relics have been pronounced spurious.