Cephalophore
Encyclopedia
A cephalophore is a saint
Saint
A saint is a holy person. In various religions, saints are people who are believed to have exceptional holiness.In Christian usage, "saint" refers to any believer who is "in Christ", and in whom Christ dwells, whether in heaven or in earth...

 who is generally depicted carrying his or her own head; in art, this was usually meant to signify that the subject in question had been martyr
Martyr
A martyr is somebody who suffers persecution and death for refusing to renounce, or accept, a belief or cause, usually religious.-Meaning:...

ed by beheading
Decapitation
Decapitation is the separation of the head from the body. Beheading typically refers to the act of intentional decapitation, e.g., as a means of murder or execution; it may be accomplished, for example, with an axe, sword, knife, wire, or by other more sophisticated means such as a guillotine...

.
Handling the halo in this circumstance offers a unique challenge for the artist. Some put the halo where the head used to be; others have the saint carrying the halo along with the head.

The term "cephalophore" was first used in a French article by Marcel Hébert, "Les martyrs céphalophores Euchaire, Elophe et Libaire", in Revue de l'Université de Bruxelles, v. 19 (1914).

Possible origins

The topos
Literary topos
Topos , in Latin locus , referred in the context of classical Greek rhetoric to a standardised method of constructing or treating an argument. See topos in classical rhetoric...

 can be traced to two sources. In a homily
Homily
A homily is a commentary that follows a reading of scripture. In Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, and Eastern Orthodox Churches, a homily is usually given during Mass at the end of the Liturgy of the Word...

 on Saints Juventinus and Maximinus, John Chrysostom
John Chrysostom
John Chrysostom , Archbishop of Constantinople, was an important Early Church Father. He is known for his eloquence in preaching and public speaking, his denunciation of abuse of authority by both ecclesiastical and political leaders, the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, and his ascetic...

 asserted that the severed head of a martyr was more terrifying to the devil than when it was able to speak. "He then compared soldiers showing their wounds received in battle to martyrs holding their severed head in their hands and presenting it to Christ". The other source was the Western vita
Vita
Vita or VITA may refer to:Things:*Vita , a brief biography, often that of a saint * Vita , a character in the anime series, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's* A curriculum vitae...

of Saint Denis
Denis
Saint Denis is a Christian martyr and saint. In the third century, he was Bishop of Paris. He was martyred in connection with the Decian persecution of Christians, shortly after A.D. 250...

, founder of the see of Paris, who was identified in the text with Dionysius the Areopagite
Dionysius the Areopagite
Dionysius the Areopagite was a judge of the Areopagus who, as related in the Acts of the Apostles, , was converted to Christianity by the preaching of the Apostle Paul during the Areopagus sermon...

.

Thus, an original, and perhaps the most famous cephalophore is Denis
Denis
Saint Denis is a Christian martyr and saint. In the third century, he was Bishop of Paris. He was martyred in connection with the Decian persecution of Christians, shortly after A.D. 250...

, patron saint
Patron saint
A patron saint is a saint who is regarded as the intercessor and advocate in heaven of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or person...

 of Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, who, according to the Golden Legend
Golden Legend
The Golden Legend is a collection of hagiographies by Jacobus de Voragine that became a late medieval bestseller. More than a thousand manuscripts of the text have survived, compared to twenty or so of its nearest rivals...

, miraculously preached with his head in his hands while journeying the seven miles from Montmartre
Montmartre
Montmartre is a hill which is 130 metres high, giving its name to the surrounding district, in the north of Paris in the 18th arrondissement, a part of the Right Bank. Montmartre is primarily known for the white-domed Basilica of the Sacré Cœur on its summit and as a nightclub district...

 to his burying place
Saint Denis Basilica
The Cathedral Basilica of Saint Denis is a large medieval abbey church in the commune of Saint-Denis, now a northern suburb of Paris. The abbey church was created a cathedral in 1966 and is the seat of the Bishop of Saint-Denis, Pascal Michel Ghislain Delannoy...

. Although St Denis is the best known of the saintly head-carriers, there were many others; the folklorist
Folkloristics
Folkloristics is the formal academic study of folklore. The term derives from a nineteenth century German designation of folkloristik to distinguish between folklore as the content and folkloristics as its study, much as language is distinguished from linguistics...

 Émile Nourry counted no less than 134 examples of cephalophory in French hagiographic literature alone. Given the frequency with which relics were stolen in medieval Europe, stories like this, in which a saint clearly indicates his or her chosen burial site, may have developed as a way of discouraging such acts of furta sacra.

Examples of cephalophoric saints

A cephalophoric legend of Nicasius of Rheims
Nicasius of Rheims
Saint Nicasius of Rheims was a bishop of Rheims from 400 until his death. He founded the first cathedral of Rheims. He prophesied the invasion of France by the Vandals....

 tells that at the moment of his execution, Nicasius was reading Psalm 119 (Psalm 118 in the Vulgate
Vulgate
The Vulgate is a late 4th-century Latin translation of the Bible. It was largely the work of St. Jerome, who was commissioned by Pope Damasus I in 382 to make a revision of the old Latin translations...

). When he reached the verse "Adhaesit pavimento anima mea" , he was decapitated. After his head had fallen to the ground, Nicasius continued the psalm, adding, "Vivifica me, Domine, secundum verbum tuum." The theme of the speaking head is extended in the eighth-century Passio of Saint Justus of Beauvais
Justus of Beauvais
Saint Justus of Beauvais is a semi-legendary saint of the Roman Catholic Church. He may have been a Gallo-Roman martyr, but his legend was confused with that of other saints, such as Justin of Paris....

: after the child had been beheaded by Roman soldiers, his father and brother found the corpse sitting with his head in his lap. Giving the head to his father, Justus asked him to carry it to Auxerre, that his mother, Felicia, might kiss it.
The legend of Aphrodisius
Aphrodisius
Saint Aphrodisius is a saint associated with the diocese of Béziers, in Languedoc, southern France.According to Gregory of Tours, Aphrodisius was an Egyptian who was martyred in Languedoc along with his followers Caralippus , Agapius, and Eusebius.-Legend:A Christian tradition states that he was a...

 of Alexandria
Alexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...

 was transferred to Béziers
Béziers
Béziers is a town in Languedoc in southern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the Hérault department. Béziers hosts the famous Feria de Béziers, centred around bullfighting, every August. A million visitors are attracted to the five-day event...

, where his name was inserted at the head of the list of bishops. In the hagiographic
Hagiography
Hagiography is the study of saints.From the Greek and , it refers literally to writings on the subject of such holy people, and specifically to the biographies of saints and ecclesiastical leaders. The term hagiology, the study of hagiography, is also current in English, though less common...

 accounts, Aphrodisius was accompanied by his camel. As he was preaching, a group of pagans pressed through the crowd and beheaded him on the spot. Aphrodisius picked up his head and carried it to the chapel which he had recently consecrated at the site. It is identified today as Place Saint-Aphrodise, Béziers.
Saint Gemolo is said to have survived his decapitation
Decapitation
Decapitation is the separation of the head from the body. Beheading typically refers to the act of intentional decapitation, e.g., as a means of murder or execution; it may be accomplished, for example, with an axe, sword, knife, wire, or by other more sophisticated means such as a guillotine...

 and, after collecting his head, climbed on horseback. He rode to meet his uncle, a bishop, on a small mountain before he finally died.
A legend associated with Saint Ginés de la Jara states that after he was decapitated
Decapitation
Decapitation is the separation of the head from the body. Beheading typically refers to the act of intentional decapitation, e.g., as a means of murder or execution; it may be accomplished, for example, with an axe, sword, knife, wire, or by other more sophisticated means such as a guillotine...

 in southern France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, he picked up his head and threw it into the Rhône
Rhône River
The Rhone is one of the major rivers of Europe, rising in Switzerland and running from there through southeastern France. At Arles, near its mouth on the Mediterranean Sea, the river divides into two branches, known as the Great Rhone and the Little Rhone...

. The head was carried by the sea to the coast of Murcia
Murcia
-History:It is widely believed that Murcia's name is derived from the Latin words of Myrtea or Murtea, meaning land of Myrtle , although it may also be a derivation of the word Murtia, which would mean Murtius Village...

 in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

, where it was venerated as a relic
Relic
In religion, a relic is a part of the body of a saint or a venerated person, or else another type of ancient religious object, carefully preserved for purposes of veneration or as a tangible memorial...

 (Murcia was the center of this saint's cult).

In The Golden Legend Paul of Tarsus
Paul of Tarsus
Paul the Apostle , also known as Saul of Tarsus, is described in the Christian New Testament as one of the most influential early Christian missionaries, with the writings ascribed to him by the church forming a considerable portion of the New Testament...

 at his martyrdom "stretched forth his neck, and so was beheaded. And as soon as the head was from the body, it said: Jesus Christus! which had been to Jesus or Christus, or both, fifty times." When the head was recovered and was to be rejoined to the body as a relic, in response to a prayer for confirmation that this was indeed the right head, the body of Paul turned to rejoin the head that had been set at its feet.

In legend, the female saint Osyth
Osyth
Osgyth was an English saint. She is primarily commemorated in the village of Saint Osyth, Essex, near Colchester...

 stood up after her execution, picking up her head like Saint Denis in Paris and other cephalophoric martyrs, and walking with it in her hands, to the door of a local convent, before collapsing there. Similarly, Valerie of Limoges
Valerie of Limoges
St Valerie of Limoges is a legendary Christian martyr and cephalophore, associated with the Roman period, whose cult was very important in Limousin, France, in the medieval period...

 carried her severed head away to her confessor, Saint Martial
Saint Martial
Saint Martial was the first bishop of Limoges in today's France, according to a lost vita of Saturnin, first bishop of Toulouse, which Gregory of Tours quotes in his History of the Franks.-Life:...

.

Saint Cuthbert of Lindisfarne
Cuthbert of Lindisfarne
Saint Cuthbert was an Anglo-Saxon monk, bishop and hermit associated with the monasteries of Melrose and Lindisfarne in the Kingdom of Northumbria, at that time including, in modern terms, northern England as well as south-eastern Scotland as far as the Firth of Forth...

 is often depicted with his head on his neck/shoulders and carrying a second head in his hands. However, he is not a cephalophore. The second head is that of Saint Oswald of Northumbria
Oswald of Northumbria
Oswald was King of Northumbria from 634 until his death, and is now venerated as a Christian saint.Oswald was the son of Æthelfrith of Bernicia and came to rule after spending a period in exile; after defeating the British ruler Cadwallon ap Cadfan, Oswald brought the two Northumbrian kingdoms of...

, who was buried with him at Durham Cathedral
Durham Cathedral
The Cathedral Church of Christ, Blessed Mary the Virgin and St Cuthbert of Durham is a cathedral in the city of Durham, England, the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Durham. The Bishopric dates from 995, with the present cathedral being founded in AD 1093...

.

In literature

In Dante
DANTE
Delivery of Advanced Network Technology to Europe is a not-for-profit organisation that plans, builds and operates the international networks that interconnect the various national research and education networks in Europe and surrounding regions...

's Divine Comedy (Canto 28) the poet meets the spectre of the troubadour Bertrand de Born in the eighth circle of the Inferno
Hell
In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...

, carrying his severed head in his hand, slung by its hair, like a lantern; upon seeing Dante and Virgil
Virgil
Publius Vergilius Maro, usually called Virgil or Vergil in English , was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He is known for three major works of Latin literature, the Eclogues , the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid...

, the head begins to speak.

The speaking severed head appears memorably in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a late 14th-century Middle English alliterative romance outlining an adventure of Sir Gawain, a knight of King Arthur's Round Table. In the poem, Sir Gawain accepts a challenge from a mysterious warrior who is completely green, from his clothes and hair to his...

.

The motif Head in Stith Thompson
Stith Thompson
Stith Thompson was an American scholar of folklore. He is the "Thompson" of the Aarne-Thompson classification system.- Biography :...

's Motif-Index of Folk Literature reveals how universal is the anomaly of the talking severed head. Aristotle
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...

 is at pains to discredit the stories of talking heads and to establish the physical impossibility, with the windpipe severed from the lung. "Moreover," he adds, "among the barbarians, where heads are chopped off with great rapidity, nothing of the kind has ever occurred." Aristotle was doubtless familiar with the story of the singing disembodied head of Orpheus
Orpheus
Orpheus was a legendary musician, poet, and prophet in ancient Greek religion and myth. The major stories about him are centered on his ability to charm all living things and even stones with his music; his attempt to retrieve his wife from the underworld; and his death at the hands of those who...

 and Homer
Homer
In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...

's image of heads severed so rapidly they seemed still to be speaking, and Latin examples could be attested. A link between Latin poets and the Middle Ages in transmitting the trope
Trope (literature)
A literary trope is the usage of figurative language in literature, or a figure of speech in which words are used in a sense different from their literal meaning...

of the speaking head was noted by Beatrice White, in the Latin poem on the Trojan War, De Bello Troiano by Joseph of Exeter. Hector
Hector
In Greek mythology, Hectōr , or Hektōr, is a Trojan prince and the greatest fighter for Troy in the Trojan War. As the first-born son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba, a descendant of Dardanus, who lived under Mount Ida, and of Tros, the founder of Troy, he was a prince of the royal house and the...

 whirls in the air the severed head of Patroclus
Patroclus
In Greek mythology, as recorded in the Iliad by Homer, Patroclus, or Patroklos , was the son of Menoetius, grandson of Actor, King of Opus, and was Achilles' beloved comrade and brother-in-arms....

, which whispers "Ultor ubi Aeacides", "Where is Achilles [Aeacides], my avenger?"
Some modern authors link the legends of cephalophores miraculously walking with their heads in their hands to the Celtic
Celtic polytheism
Celtic polytheism, commonly known as Celtic paganism, refers to the religious beliefs and practices adhered to by the Iron Age peoples of Western Europe now known as the Celts, roughly between 500 BCE and 500 CE, spanning the La Tène period and the Roman era, and in the case of the Insular Celts...

 cult of heads.

In music

They Might Be Giants
They Might Be Giants
They Might Be Giants is an American alternative rock band formed in 1982 by John Flansburgh and John Linnell. During TMBG's early years Flansburgh and Linnell were frequently accompanied by a drum machine. In the early 1990s, TMBG became a full band. Currently, the members of TMBG are...

 wrote a song about cephalophores called "You Probably Get That A Lot" on their album Join Us (2011)

Cephalophores

  • Alban of Mainz
    Alban of Mainz
    Saint Alban of Mainz was a priest, missionary, and martyr.Rabanus Maurus wrote in his Martyrology about Alban, who was sent to Gallia as a missionary by Ambrose of Milan. In Mainz, Alban helped bishop Aureus of Mainz to regain his bishopric...

  • Aphrodisius
    Aphrodisius
    Saint Aphrodisius is a saint associated with the diocese of Béziers, in Languedoc, southern France.According to Gregory of Tours, Aphrodisius was an Egyptian who was martyred in Languedoc along with his followers Caralippus , Agapius, and Eusebius.-Legend:A Christian tradition states that he was a...

  • Chrysolius
    Chrysolius
    Saint Chrysolius the Armenian is the patron saint of Komen, in Belgium; his relics were venerated in the basilica of St Donatian, Bruges. According to tradition, he was a native of Armenia who fled to Rome during the persecution of Christians by Diocletian, was received by Pope Marcellus I and...

  • Denis of Paris
    Denis
    Saint Denis is a Christian martyr and saint. In the third century, he was Bishop of Paris. He was martyred in connection with the Decian persecution of Christians, shortly after A.D. 250...

  • Domninus of Fidenza
    Domninus of Fidenza
    Saint Domninus of Fidenza is an Italian Catholic saint. According to tradition, he died in 304 AD and was a native of Parma. The cathedral at Fidenza is dedicated to him. The Hieronymian Martyrology commemorates Domninus, but does not include any further information about him, and his feast...

  • Emygdius
    Emygdius
    Saint Emygdius was a Christian bishop who is venerated as a martyr. Tradition states that he was killed during the persecution of Diocletian.- Legend :...

  • Felix and Regula
    Felix and Regula
    The saints Felix and Regula are Coptic Orthodox and Roman Catholic saints, together with their servant Exuperantius, and are the patron saints of Zürich, their feast day being 11 September at the head of the Coptic Calendar....

  • Gemolo
  • Ginés de la Jara
    Ginés de la Jara
    Saint Ginés de la Jara is a semi-legendary saint of Spain. He is associated with the region surrounding Cartagena, of which he is co-patron...

  • Justus of Beauvais
    Justus of Beauvais
    Saint Justus of Beauvais is a semi-legendary saint of the Roman Catholic Church. He may have been a Gallo-Roman martyr, but his legend was confused with that of other saints, such as Justin of Paris....

  • Juthwara
    Juthwara
    Saint Juthwara was a British virgin and martyr from Dorset, who probably lived in the 6th century. Her relics were translated to Sherborne during the reign of Ethelred the Unready...

  • Lucian of Beauvais
    Lucian of Beauvais
    Saint Lucian of Beauvais is a Christian martyr of the Catholic Church, called the "Apostle of Beauvais." He was killed in the 3rd century during the Diocletian persecution, although later traditions make him a martyr of the 1st century instead. This was because the church of Beauvais attempted...

  • Miliau
    Miliau
    St Miliau or Milio is a Breton saint and eponym of the village of Guimiliau, where he is particularly venerated. He is said to be a good saint to invoke in cases of rheumatism. St Miliau is a figure of some importance in Breton cult and legend. He is sometimes represented as a cephalophore, i.e....

  • Minias of Florence
    Minias of Florence
    Saint Minias is venerated as the first Christian martyr of Florence. The church of San Miniato al Monte is dedicated to him...

  • Nectan
    Saint Nectan
    Saint Nectan, sometimes styled Saint Nectan of Hartland, was a 5th-century holy man who lived in Stoke, Hartland, in the English county of Devon, where the prominent Church of Saint Nectan, Hartland is dedicated to him.-Life:...

  • Nicasius of Rheims
    Nicasius of Rheims
    Saint Nicasius of Rheims was a bishop of Rheims from 400 until his death. He founded the first cathedral of Rheims. He prophesied the invasion of France by the Vandals....

  • Nicasius, Quirinus and Scubiculus
    Nicasius, Quirinus, Scubiculus, and Pientia
    Nicasius, Quirinus, Scubiculus, and Pientia were venerated as martyrs and saints. Their feast day is October 11. Their historicity is uncertain, and "no trustworthy historical reports of [them] exist."...

  • Osyth
    Osyth
    Osgyth was an English saint. She is primarily commemorated in the village of Saint Osyth, Essex, near Colchester...

  • Saturnina
    Saturnina
    Saint Saturnina is venerated as a Christian virgin martyr, “now believed to most likely be purely legendary.”-Legend:Her legend states that she came from a noble German family , and that she took a vow of celibacy at the age of twelve. When her parents forced her into marriage when she turned...

  • Theonistus
    Theonistus
    Saint Theonistus is a saint venerated by the Catholic Church. Theonistus is venerated with two companions, Tabra and Tabratha...

  • Valerie of Limoges
  • Winefride
    Winefride
    thumb|right|300px|St Winifred's Well, [[Woolston, north Shropshire|Woolston]], ShropshireSaint Winefride was a legendary 7th-century Welsh noblewoman who was canonized after dying for the sake of her chastity...

  • Wyllow
    Wyllow
    Wyllow was a Cornish hermit saint and martyr whose existence was reported by William Worcester.Said to have been born in Ireland, he was reputedly beheaded by Melyn ys Kynrede in the parish of Lanteglos, near Fowey. Supposedly, he then carried his head for half a mile to St Willow's Bridge, where...

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