De sanctis Gorgonio et Dorotheo
The Courage of the Palace Martyrs
Gorgonius and Dorotheus renounce their imperial status to embrace the suffering of martyrdom for Christ.
Gorgonius and Dorotheus were the first in Diocletian’s palace to renounce their long-held military service so they could more freely follow their King, and they openly confessed that they were Christians. When the Caesar heard this, he was deeply troubled, finding it hard to lose such men whom he had raised in his palace and who were adorned by the nobility of their character and birth. Since they were moved by neither threats nor promises, they were stretched on the rack and, after their whole bodies had been torn by whips and iron claws, they were drenched with vinegar and salt while their insides were nearly laid bare; and when they endured these things all the more eagerly, they were roasted on a gridiron, where they seemed to lie as if on a bed of flowers, feeling no injury at all. Then, by the Caesar's order, they were hanged by a noose, and their bodies were exposed to wolves and dogs, but the faithful gathered them up, still intact. They suffered around the year of our Lord 280.
The Translation of the Relics
The holy remains of Saint Gorgonius are moved to Rome and eventually to Gaul for veneration.
Many years later, the body of Saint Gorgonius was moved to Rome. In the year of our Lord 762. The Bishop of Metz, a nephew of King Pippin, brought him to Gaul and placed them in the monastery of Saint-Gorgon.
Read the original Latin
Gorgonius et Dorotheus apud Nicomediam primi in palatio Dyocletiani antiquae militiae renuntiant, ut liberius regem suum sequantur, et christianos se voce libera confitentur. Quod Caesar audiens plurimum anxiabatur, aegre ferens perdere tales viros, quos Intra palatium nutritos morum et generis nobilitas decoravit. Cum igitur nec minis nec blanditiis moverentur, in equuleo distenduntur et flagellis et ungulis toto corpore lacerati aceto et sale nudatis paene eorum visceribus perfunduntur, et cum haec alacrius tolerarent, in craticula assantur, ubi quasi in lecto florum videbantur jacere nihilque laesionis sentire. Deinde jussu Caesaris laqueo suspenduntur et corpora lupis et canibus exponuntur, sed tamen intacta a fidelibus colliguntur. )Passi sunt circa annum domini CCLXXX. Post multos annos corpus sancti Gorgonii Romam translatum est. Anno domini )DCCLXIIT. episcopus Metensis nepos Pipini regis ipsum ad Gallias transtulit et Gorgociensi monasterio eos collocavit.
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