Gordianus and Epimachus

Epimachus with a tiled stove in hand, Kempten Monastery Chronicle (Karlschronik)
Beheading of Gordianus, depiction from France, 14th century

Gordianus and Epimachus († 362 in Rome , † 252 in Alexandria ) are martyrs and saints of the Orthodox and Roman Catholic Church and patron saints of the city of Kempten (Allgäu) .

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Gordianus

Gordianus, whose name came from Gordion in Phrygia , was a judge who converted to Christianity with his family through the example of St. Januarius . According to tradition , he was tortured and beheaded during the reign of Emperor Julian (361–363) under the governor of Rome, Aproniamus. His body was thrown to the dogs, but remained intact until he was buried.

There are two other saints with the same name: a martyr who is commemorated on September 17th and another whose commemoration day is September 13th.

Epimachus

He was buried together with St. Gordianus in the catacomb of St. Marcellinus and Peter on the 3rd mile of the Via Labicana .

Afterlife and worship

In 773/774 the Carolingian Queen Hildegard , wife of Emperor Charlemagne , is said to have arranged for the relics of both martyrs to be transferred to the Kempten Benedictine monastery . In Kempten, Gordian and Epimachus thus became co-patrons of the monastery church. The imperial city of Kempten chose Gordian as the secular of the two saints for one of their city seals . Numerous citizens of the imperial city were baptized in the name of the city patron; the best known was Mayor Gordian Seuter , who negotiated the so-called Great Purchase in 1525.

Catholic Memorial Day is May 10th.

According to the Bollandists, there are four other saints of this name:

A saint of the Orthodox Church whose feast day is July 6th (Acta SS., XXIX, 280)
Epimachus and Azirianus, martyrs of the Coptic and Abyssinian Churches. Remembrance day is October 31st (Acta SS., LXI, 684)
Epimachus of Pelusium in Egypt, venerated by the Orthodox on October 31 (Acta SS., LXI, 704)
Epimachus and Alexander, executed in Alexandria under Decius († 251). Venerated by Catholics on December 12th.

In the Middle Ages, this circumstance often led to the fact that information about the individual name bearers was confused or that different name bearers were mistaken for one and the same person. The trained Bollandist Remi de Buck is of the opinion that Epimachus, who is worshiped together with Gordianus, is a Roman, not, as is generally assumed, the martyr who was executed in Alexandria.