medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Gervasius and Protasius (d. betw. 64 and 68, supposedly). Gervasius and Protasius are the names assigned to the two tall, male skeletons whose remains St. Ambrose of Milan, acting in 386 upon what he called a presentiment (to St. Augustine of Hippo and to Paulinus of Milan, it was a revelation), found in buried in that city's extramural cemetery near the church of Sts. Nabor and Felix. Certainly it was providential, as Ambrose now had two martyrs with whose remains he could sanctify his new cathedral, then still under construction. Their translation to their new resting place, next to the one Ambrose had destined for himself, took place on 19. June. Here they are, with Ambrose between them, in the crypt of Milan's basilica di Sant'Ambrogio:
http://tinyurl.com/qbxh8yv
Ambrose was quick to share with others not only the news of his good fortune but also relics by which the cult of Gervasius and Protasius could be and was extended to other churches. Thus bishop St. Severus of Naples received from Ambrose relics of the two saints which he then placed in the basilica he had built in Naples' catacombs. Thus too, presumably, the originally late fourth-century Roman basilica now generally known as San Vitale had by the year 412 come to include Gervasius and Protasius in its dedication. Their cult spread rapidly in the Latin West: among its early devotees were Sts. Martin of Tours, Paulinus of Nola, and Gaudentius of Brescia. In mid-fifth-century Noricum St. Severinus received relics of Gervasius and Protasius after having been prompted by a vision. They are entered for today in the early sixth-century Calendar of Carthage and are depicted in sixth-century mosaic programmes in both Gothic and Byzantine Ravenna.
Gervasius and Protasius have a Passio (BHL 3514, etc.) whose earliest form is thought to be of the late fifth or early sixth century. This pretends to have been written by Ambrose himself and makes them twin brothers, gives them as parents Sts. Vitalis and Valeria, has them give away their inheritance to the poor once their parents had been martyred, and places their suffering under Nero. In it Gervasius dies under the lash and Protasius is decapitated. In Eastern-rite churches Gervasius and Protasius are celebrated on 14. October, their traditional _dies natalis_.
A few late antique and medieval images of Gervasius and Protasius:
a) Gervasius and Protasius as depicted in the probably very late fourth-century full-length mosaic portraits in the sacello di San Vittore in Milan's basilica di Sant'Ambrogio:
Gervasius:
http://tinyurl.com/qfve77q
Protasius:
http://tinyurl.com/ppjoty3
b) Gervasius and Protasius as depicted in the earlier sixth-century mosaics (betw. 527 and 548) of the presbytery arch in Ravenna's basilica di San Vitale, the church of the saint traditionally said to have been their father:
Gervasius (photograph courtesy of Genevra Kornbluth):
http://www.kornbluthphoto.com/images/VitaleChancelArch6.jpg
Gervasius (another view):
http://bagnidilucca.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/img_2380.jpg
Protasius:
https://www.heiligenlexikon.de/Fotos/Protasius.jpg
c) Gervasius and Protasius (at left) as depicted in the heavily restored later sixth-century mosaics (ca. 560) in the nave of Ravenna's basilica di Sant'Apollinare Nuovo:
http://tinyurl.com/36khyr
d) The martyrdom of Gervasius and Protasius (at right [already decapitated], after Sts. Celsus and Nazarius) as depicted in the late tenth- or very early eleventh-century so-called Menologion of Basil II (Città del Vaticano, BAV, cod. Vat. gr. 1613, p. 114):
http://tinyurl.com/nbxe7at
e) Gervasius and Protasius as depicted in an illumination in the late tenth- or early eleventh-century Prayer Book of Archbishop Arnulph II of Milan (betw. 998 and 1018; London, BL, MS Egerton 3763, fol. 113v):
http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/ILLUMIN.ASP?Size=mid&IllID=12195
f) Gervasius and Protasius flanking St. Ambrose and embracing two monks as portrayed in the twelfth-century stucco ornament of the ciborium over the altar that in the Middle Ages held their tomb in Milan's basilica di Sant'Ambrogio:
http://www.atlantedellarteitaliana.it/immagine/00008/4479OP7950.jpg
g) Gervasius and Protasius (scenes) as depicted in three panels of a late twelfth-century glass window (Bay XX; ca. 1190) in the cathedral of Le Mans showing a) St. Paul appearing to St. Ambrose to apprise him of the location of the bodies of Gervasius and Protasius, b) the discovery of the bodies of Gervasius and Protasius, and c) scenes from the legend of Gervasius and Protasius (photographs courtesy of Gordon Plumb):
https://www.flickr.com/photos/22274117@N08/2209088732/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/22274117@N08/4714852210/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/22274117@N08/4714216269/
Other views (nicely expandable) of panels of the same window are here:
http://tinyurl.com/pc6no4x
h) Gervasius (at right) and Protasius (at left) flanking Christ as depicted in the heavily restored, originally thirteenth-century apse mosaic in Milan's basilica di Sant'Ambrogio:
http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/6820231.jpg
i) Gervasius and Protasius as portrayed (upper register) on a mid-twelfth-century penny from Breisach in today's Baden-Württemberg and (lower register at left) on an early fourteenth-century Milanese grosso da due soldi (betw. 1310 and 1313):
http://www.coingallery.de/Heilige/G/Gervasius.htm
j) Gervasius and Protasius feeding the poor as depicted in an earlier fourteenth-century copy (1348) of the _Legenda aurea_, from the workshop of Richard and Jeanne de Montbaston, in its French-language version by Jean de Vignay (Paris, BnF, ms. Français 241, fol. 140r):
http://tinyurl.com/36hrou9
k) The martyrdom of Gervasius and Protasius as depicted in an earlier fourteenth-century (ca. 1325-1350) collection of French-language saint's Lives (Paris, BnF, ms. Français 185, fol. 233v):
http://tinyurl.com/24gcnz9
l) The martyrdom of Gervasius and Protasius (along with that of Sts. Nazarius and Celsus) as depicted in an October calendar scene in the earlier fourteenth-century frescoes (betw. 1335 and 1350) in the narthex of the church of the Holy Ascension at the Visoki Dečani monastery near Peć in, depending on one's view of the matter, either the Republic of Kosovo or Serbia's province of Kosovo and Metohija:
http://tinyurl.com/yedgwfv
m) Gervasius and Protasius as depicted in the earlier fourteenth-century frescoes (betw. 1335 and 1350) in the nave of the church of the Holy Ascension at the Visoki Dečani monastery near Peć in, depending on one's view of the matter, either the Republic of Kosovo or Serbia's province of Kosovo and Metohija:
Gervasius:
http://tinyurl.com/27sktmc
Protasius:
http://tinyurl.com/24jyfxf
n) The martyrdom of Gervasius and Protasius (right-hand column) as depicted in the mid- to later fourteenth-century Breviary of Charles V (betw. 1347 and 1380; Paris, BnF, ms. Latin 1052, fol. 393v):
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b84525491/f796.image
o) Gervasius and Protasius (at right; click on the image to enlarge) as depicted on a side panel of a late fourteenth-century altarpiece of the Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine of Alexandria and Saints (ca. 1381-1393; attributed to Angelo Pulcinelli), now in the Museo Nazionale di Villa Guinigi in Matraia, a _frazione_ of Capannori (LU) in Tuscany:
http://www.luccamuseinazionali.it/opere_dettaglio.php?nctn=XXXXX&id_inv=4981
p) Gervasius and Protasius as depicted in the late fourteenth-century frescoes (later 1380s?) in the nave of the church of the Holy Ascension at the Ravanica monastery near Ćuprija in central Serbia:
Gervasius:
http://tinyurl.com/77er7wg
Protasius:
http://tinyurl.com/82jdwt5
q) Gervasius and Protasius as depicted (prob. originally in full-length) in the late fourteenth-century frescoes (later 1380s?) in the narthex of the church of the Holy Ascension at the Ravanica monastery near Ćuprija in central Serbia:
Gervasius:
http://tinyurl.com/2c59odj
Protasius:
http://tinyurl.com/24nykdl
r) Gervasius and Protasius as depicted (at left; at right, St. Opportuna) in the early fifteenth-century Hours of René d'Anjou (ca. 1410; London, British Library, MS Egerton 1070, fol. 109v; image expandable):
http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/ILLUMIN.ASP?Size=mid&IllID=48356
s) Gervasius and Protasius as depicted, with varying dress and hair styles, in several late medieval missals and breviaries:
http://tinyurl.com/mopw4v
t) Gervasius and Protasius as depicted by the Olivetan Master in a mid-fifteenth-century illuminated initial cut from a manuscript and now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York:
http://tinyurl.com/opwwp2z
u) Gervasius (at right) and Protasius (at left) flanking St. Ambrose as depicted by Antonio da Tradate in a late fifteenth- or early sixteenth-century fresco in the chiesa di San Carlo Borromeo (formerly Sant'Ambrogio vecchio) in Prugiasco-Negrentino, a locality of Acquarossa (canton Ticino):
http://www.sikart.ch/imgrenderer2.aspx?id=13799216
http://static.panoramio.com/photos/large/75298794.jpg
v) Gervasius and Protasius (scenes) as depicted in three of eighteen sections cut from two sixteenth-century tapestries (1509; last cleaned, 2001) concerning them in the choir of the cathedral of Le Mans: a) the martyrdom of Gervasius; b) Protasius' death and burial; c) the post-Inventio translation of the martyrs' relics into the city of Milan and subsequent healings in the presence of St. Ambrose:
http://tinyurl.com/nn7jso2
http://tinyurl.com/nnmktmj
http://tinyurl.com/olcmq3z
w) Gervasius and Protasius (foreground, left and right) as depicted by Ambrogio Bergognone in an early sixteenth-century panel painting (ca. 1514) of St. Ambrose and Saints now in the Certosa di Pavia:
http://tinyurl.com/o77wpyu
x) Gervasius (at right) and Protasius (at left) as portrayed in earlier sixteenth-century wooden statues (ca. 1526) on the high altar of the Münster St. Stephan in Breisach (Lkr. Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald) in Baden-Württemberg:
https://www.heiligenlexikon.de/Fotos/Protasius2.jpg
Best,
John Dillon
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