Gemma

Saint Gemma of Saintonge (also called Saint Gemme or Gemmes) is a legendary virgin of Portuguese origin, a martyr in Aquitaine. Many French communes bear her name.

According to the collection "Les Petits Bollandistes" of Monsignor Guérin, she lived in the first century, as the daughter of Catilius, the pagan prefect of Galicia and Lusitania. Her father wished to give her in marriage to a young lord of the region, Regulus; the girl refused and was shut up and tormented. The attempt to burn her failed, for her body resisted the flames; she was then beheaded, on 15 August 109. Her remains are said to have been carried to Aquitaine by her two sisters, Livrade and Quitterie. The same work gives a second version: she was the daughter of Catilius, king of Galicia, and of Callia, lived in the fourth century and, after receiving Christian teaching in secret, fled with her sisters to preach in Aquitaine, where the governor had them arrested, tormented and beheaded. Other sources speak of a Gemme who was a widow and martyr, and the martyrologies of Spain and Portugal make her born into a rich but pagan family of the West and have her die in 138 at Orense.

The church of Sainte-⁠Gemme in Saintonge is said to have received relics brought from Auvergne. The feast is kept, depending on the region, on 15 or 16 August or on 20 June.