HERCULANUS, Saint. — The earliest testimony concerning him is that contained in the *Dialogues* of St Gregory the Great. There also exists a very legendary and elaborate *Passio*, developed after the appearance of the legend of Abbondius and his companions from Syria, one of whom was named E.; his personality was therefore split in two. According to St Gregory, E., before being consecrated bishop of Perugia, had been a monk. When in 549 Totila occupied Perugia, E. was flayed and beheaded, and his body thrown outside the walls, temporarily buried together with a child. When the Perugian refugees returned to the city 40 days after the massacre, they searched for the body of their bishop; while the body of the child was found already decomposed, that of E. was instead still intact and with his head joined to the trunk, as if it had never been severed. According to the most ancient historical martyrologies he would have died on 7 Nov. — See pl. XXXVII.