ST

SERGIUS  , generally associated with St Bacchus, one of the most celebrated martyrs of Christian antiquity . His festival is on the 7th of October, and the centre of his cult was Resafa, or Rosafa, in Syria, in the province of Augusta Euphratesia . This town, which since the middle of the 6th century was also called Sergiopolis, acquired importance as a place of pilgrimage, and became a bishop's see (Le Quien, Oriens Christ. ii . 951) . The cult of the saint spread rapidly . In 353 we find a church of St Sergius at Eitha, in Batanaea (Waddington, Inscriptions de Syrie, n . 2124)—the most ancient example of a dedication of this kind . In the 6th century St Sergius was honoured in the West (Gregory of Tours, De gloria martyrum, 96) . According to their Ada (which, however, have little authority), SS . Sergius and Bacchus were soldiers . In art they are most generally represented in military costume . See Ada sanctorum (October), iii .

833-883; Analecta Bollandiana, xiv . 373-395• (H . DE.) SERGIUS, the name of four popes .