Oricle of Reims

Oricle of Reims (Oriculus) is a legendary martyr of Reims, who would have lived in the 5th century. The only ancient author who speaks of him is Flodoard, in the 10th century, in the History of the Church of Reims. According to Flodoard, Oricle, "servant of God", lived with his sisters Oricula and Basilica at Senuc, in a church he had built. They were massacred by the Vandals (that is, the Huns), at the time when the same barbarians killed Bishop Saint Nicasius.

The legend is of the cephalophore type: beheaded, Oricle washed his head in a fountain, then took it in his hands and went to the tomb he had prepared beforehand. With his blood he is said to have marked a cross on a stone. His discovery is also miraculous: a peasant is said to have received in his sleep the command to cover the fountain with a roof. When the tomb was opened, in the time of Archbishop Seulfus (922-925), the bodies of Oricle and his two sisters were found buried together. The cult remained very local: at Senuc a priory of Saint-⁠Oricle is known from 1058, and in the church of Senuc there is a painted wooden statue of the saint from the 17th century. His feast was kept on 18 November.