1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Sergius, St
SERGIUS, ST, 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 Acta (which, however, have little authority), SS. Sergius and Bacchus were soldiers. In art they are most generally represented in military costume.
See Acta sanctorum (October), iii. 833-883; Analecta Bollandiana, xiv. 373-395. (H. De.)