Gorgonius

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Catacomb of Saints Marcellinus and Peter on the Via Labicana. Christ between Peter and Paul. To the sides are the martyrs Gorgonius, Peter, Marcellinus, Tiburtius.

Saint Gorgonius was a Christian martyr, part of the group Gorgonius, Peter and Dorotheus, who died in 304 AD at Nicomedia during the persecution of Diocletian.

According to Lactantius and Eusebius, Gorgonius held a high position in the household of the emperor. When the persecution began he was consequently among the first to be charged, and with his companions, Peter, Dorotheus and several others, was subjected to the most frightful torments and finally strangled. Diocletian, determined that their bodies should not receive the extraordinary honours which the early Christians gave the relics of the martyrs, ordered them to be thrown into the sea. The Christians nevertheless obtained possession of them and later the body of Gorgonius was carried to Rome.

From there in the 8th century the remains were translated by Saint Chrodegang, Bishop of Metz to the monastery of Gorze in Lorraine. Many French churches obtained portions of the saint's body from Gorze, but in the general pillage of the French Revolution, most of these relics were lost. The feast of Gorgonius and his companions is kept on 12 March.

Another Saint Gorgonius was an early Roman martyr commemorated on 9 September.

A third saint of this name was a member of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste, otherwise known as the soldiers of the "Thundering Legion".

The different Gorgonii seem to have been frequently confused. The Catholic Encyclopaedia mentions others of the same name of whom virtually nothing is known and who have almost identical feast dates; these seem to be echoes of those named above.