Saint of the Day – 31 October – Saint Quentin (Died c287) Martyr,

Saint of the Day – 31 October – Saint Quentin (Died c287) Martyr, Roman Senator, Missionary. Died in c287 after horrible torments he was finally beheaded. Patronages – against coughs, whooping courgh, colds, against dropsy, against sneezing, of bombardiers, of Chaplains, locksmiths, porters, surgeons, tailors, of Amiens in France, of Monticelli Terme in Italy. Also known as – Quentin of Vermand, Quentin of Amiens, Quinten… Quintin…Quintino… Quintinus… Additional Memorials – 24 June on some calendars, 3 January (discovery of his body), 25 October (translation of the body). In art Quentin is often depicted as a Deacon.

The Roman Martyrology reads today: “At Saint Quentin, in France, St Quintinus, a Roman citizen and Senator, who endured Martyrdom under the Emperor Maximian. By the revelation of an Angel, his body was found incorrupt after the lapse of 55 years.”

Quentin belonged to a Roman senatorial family and came to Gaul under the Emperor Maximian to work with St Lucian who was later also Martyred near Beauvais in c290, as a missionary of faith in the area around Amiens.

He was arrested in Vermand and finally beheaded near what is now St-Quentin. According to later tradition, he was pricked with nails, doused with hot pitch and his body thrown into the River Somme. Around 55 years later, the blind Roman noblewoman, Matron Eusebia had the body recovered from the Somme following a vision and buried in a Chapel she had built.

According to St Gregory of Tours, Quentin was already being venerated in the 6th Century. Around 641, St Eligius of Noyon found the Relics and made a richly decorated Tomb (St Eligius being a renowned craftsman and goldsmith) – the first recorded story of the Passion of St Quentin dates from that time.

Due to the large stream of pilgrims to the Church dedicated to the Martyr , the Town of St-Quentin developed on this site. The Church, which was renovated between 813 and 826 and again in the 13th Century, contains Quentin’s Tomb and today is a very large Basilica and is still a place of pilgrimage and miracles, so much so, that a new Church, the current Basilica, had to be erected to accommodate the faithful. The Processional Bust and Reliquary below might be that crafted by St Eligius (?).

In 881, because of the Norman invasions, the Relics were taken to Laon. In Parma, the Church of San Quintino is dedicated to our Saint which dates to an old Oratory which was built outside the City walls.

The Martyrs Sts Victoricus and Fuscian were St Quentin’s followers.