Saint Quentin
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article is about the saint. For places named after him, see Saint-Quentin and San Quintin.
| Saint Quentin | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Martyr | |
| Born | N/A |
| Died | ca. 287 AD |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church |
| Major shrine | Saint-Quentin, France; relics now at Laon |
| Feast | October 31 |
| Attributes | Depicted as a young man with two spits; as a deacon; with a broken wheel; with a chair to which he is transfixed; with a sword; or beheaded, a dove flying from his severed head. |
| Patronage | bombardiers, chaplains, locksmiths, porters, tailors, and surgeons. Invoked against coughs, sneezes, and dropsy. |
Saint Quentin (d. 287 AD), also known as Quintinus, is a minor Christian saint. No details are known of his life; a legendary life has him as a Roman citizen who was martyred in Gaul. He is said to have been the son of a man named Zeno, who had senatorial rank. Filled with apostolic zeal, Quentin traveled to Gaul as a missionary with Saint Lucian, who was later martyred at Beauvais.
Quentin settled at Amiens and performed many miracles there. Because of his preaching he was imprisoned by prefect Rictiovarus, who had traveled to Amiens from Trier. When the prefect left Amiens, he ordered the saint to be sent to a new town. Quentin was manacled, tortured repeatedly, and brought to a town named Augusta Veromanduorum (now Saint-Quentin, Aisne). He was tortured there and thrown into a dungeon. He was then beheaded and thrown into (or drowned in) the Somme.
Christians are said to have buried his body on a mountainside. Some fifty years later, a woman named Eusebia rediscovered the relics. However, the burial place was forgotten during the reign of Julian the Apostate. A chapel built nearby, however, remained. It is said that Saint Eligius again found the relics in 641 and distributed the nails with which Quentin's body had been pierced, as well as the saint's teeth and hair.
Eligius, a goldsmith, placed the remaining relics in a shrine he had fashioned himself. This was placed behind the high altar at Noyon; the relics are now at Laon.
The martyrs Victoricus and Fuscian are said to have been Quentin's followers.
His feast day is October 31.
[edit] External links
This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia.
