At 03:37 PM 10/8/99 +0100, Dr Carolyn Muessig wrote:
>Today, 7 October, is the feast of...
>
>Sergius and Baccus, martyrs (303): When they refused to enter temple of
>Jupiter with emperor Maximian, he stripped these soldiers of their
>uniforms and made them walk the streets in women's clothes; later they
>were martyred separately.
In his posthumously published _Same-Sex Unions in Premodern Europe_ (1994),
historian John Boswell discusses "Serge and Bacchus" at
length. Acknowledging the textual ambiguities in the legends of these
saints, Boswell suggests that they are depicted as a "married" couple and
their names are invoked in the ritual solemnization that is the subject of
his study.
TL Long
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