Gregory

Holy Hieromartyr Gregory was a priest of the city of Spoleto in Italy and received the death of martyrdom in the year 304. The general Flaccus arrived at Spoleto with an order from the emperor Maximian to punish all Christians. He was told that Gregory was drawing many away from honoring the gods and the emperors, so soldiers brought him bound before the tribunal. After a long period of torture he was beheaded on 24 December 304.

According to a pious tradition, his body was to be given to the beasts kept for the public games, but a Christian woman whose name is not known bought it back for a large sum and prepared it for burial. At the request of the emperor Otto I the body was sent to Cologne, together with the relics of Saints Felix and Nabor. In 993 Bishop Egbert moved some of the relics to the cathedral of Trier. The Roman Martyrology commemorates him on 24 December (new style), but in some places the feast is kept on other days: 23 December at Cologne, 22 December at Spoleto. He is venerated as a saint of the undivided Church.