Gentian

Holy Martyr Gentian suffered in the year 287 near Amiens in Gaul, in the time of the Emperor Maximian, on the same day as Saints Fuscian and Victoricus. He is commemorated on 11 December.

According to the account, Fuscian and Victoricus left Rome to evangelize the Gallic people of the Morini and in 287 passed through the village of Sama (today Sains-⁠en-⁠Amiénois), where they brought Gentian to the faith. The three were soon arrested. On 11 December 287 soldiers led by the official Rictiovarus beheaded Gentian at Sains, then took Fuscian and Victoricus to the nearby woods, where they were beheaded after heavy torments. The legend says the two returned to Sains carrying their heads in their hands.

In 893 Abbot Francon of Corbie, who wanted relics for his monastery, obtained the relics of Gentian in secret from the cathedral of Amiens; those of Victoricus had already been given to the basilica of Saint-⁠Quentin. It is said that the people of Amiens, pursuing them, were stopped by a thick fog. The presumed tomb of the three is in the church of Sains-⁠en-⁠Amiénois, where a yearly pilgrimage of the "frozen saints" was held. He is honored as a saint of the undivided Church.