Sts. Gervase and Protase: Feast Day, Patronage & Prayers
Updated: Oct 3
Feast day: June 19 (no longer on the General Roman Calendar; commemorated in the Roman Martyrology)
Patron of: The city of Milan.
About Sts. Gervase and Protase
Sts. Gervase and Protase, also called Gervasius and Protasius, were early martyrs of Milan, traditionally said to be twin brothers. Almost nothing certain is known of their lives, but the discovery of their relics is one of the best documented events of the fourth-century Church. In the year 386, St. Ambrose, bishop of Milan, was preparing to dedicate a new basilica. Following what he described as a strong presentiment, he had the ground dug near the church of Sts. Nabor and Felix and found the remains of two men, which were identified as the martyrs Gervase and Protase.
The relics were carried in procession to the new basilica, now called the Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio, and many healings were reported, including that of a well-known blind man named Severus. Both St. Ambrose, in a letter to his sister Marcellina, and St. Augustine, who was in Milan at the time, in his Confessions and City of God, wrote about these events. Ambrose himself was later buried beside them. They appear together in the traditional Litany of the Saints.
Prayers to Sts. Gervase and Protase on Daily Catholic Prayers
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