Gordian and Epimachus, Ss.
GORDIAN AND EPIMACHUS, SS.
Martyrs; d. c. 362 and 250, respectively. The cult of Gordian and Epimachus has been well attested in Western Christendom since the sixth century; the Roman martyrology and most of the other martyrologies commemorate them on May 10. There is no doubt about their historic existence and early cult, but their legends are fictitious and even their identity is uncertain. Gordian is known to have been a young boy, but legend made him a judge in Rome who embraced Christianity during the reign of julian the apostate and was decapitated in 362. He was buried in the tomb of St. Epimachus.
Epimachus may have been an Alexandrian martyr thrown into a lime kiln in 250 whose remains were subsequently translated to Rome, or a Roman martyr of the same name of whom nothing is known. Another unsubstantiated legend states that the relics of Gordian and Epimachus were subsequently translated by Bl. hildegard of kempten, Charlemagne's wife, to the Abbey of Kempten in Bavaria.
Feast: May 10.
Bibliography: Acta Sanctorum, May 2:549–553. e. josi, Revista de archeologia cristiana 16 (1939) 21–37, 42–47; 17 (1940) 31–35. w. hotzelt, Römiske Quartalschrift für christliche Alter-tumskunde und für Kirchengeschichte 46 (1938) 1–17.
[j. brÜckmann]