Episode 05: The Cephalophores

December 3, 2022

Among the various icons and images of saints there exist curious depictions of decapitated figures holding their own heads. These saints, known as cephalophores, were said to walk, speak, pray, and even preach for a period of time after they had been beheaded. Hear stories of Saint Denis, Saint Aphrodisius, Saint Lucian, Saint Valerie, Saint Minas, Saint Justus, Saint Felix, Saint Regula, Saint Nicasius, Saint Osyth, and Saint Edmund the Martyr.

sources for this episode:
• Butler's Lives of the Saints
• Catholic Encyclopedia
• Catholic Online ( catholic.org )
• The Golden Legend
• Lauro, Sarah Juliet. The Zombie Saints: The Contagious Spirit of Christian Conversion Narratives published in Literature and Theology Vol. 26, No. 2 – June 2012
• Medieval Sourcebook. Abbo of Fleury: The Martyrdom of St. Edmund, King of East Anglia, 870. ( https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/870abbo-edmund.asp )
• Murcia Today ( https://murciatoday.com/-7th-may-san-gines-de-la-jara-arrives-in-cartagena-by-sea_29766-a.html )
• Orthodox Church in America. Heiromartyr Lucian, Bishop of Beauvais, and Those with Him in France. ( https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2007/06/03/101596-hieromartyr-lucian-bishop-of-beauvais-and-those-with-him-in-fran )
• St. Denis, Bishop, and Companions, Martyrs ( https://catholicreadings.org/saint-denis-of-paris/ )

Theme music is Mariam Matrem Virginem, played by a forest beggar.

Saint Denis