GALLICANO, saint, martyr. — He is commemorated on 25 June. Unknown to the ancient martyrologies, he was introduced into them by Adon. In the Liber Pontificalis, in the life of Pope Silvester, a G. is mentioned who is said to have made donations to the basilica built at Ostia by Constantine in honor of SS. Peter, Paul, and John.
The author of the Passio of SS. John and Paul, the celebrated martyrs venerated in the basilica of the same name on the Caelian, apparently knew that G. was a pagan, an army officer under Constantine, from whom he had asked for his daughter Costanza in marriage. During a military expedition, she had him accompanied by her two only [companions], Giovanni and Paolo, so that they might convert him to Christianity. G. returned victorious and converted, but renounced both the marriage and the consulship that Constantine offered him; he distributed all his possessions among the poor and withdrew to Ostia, to the home of a certain [person], which he had adapted as a hospice for pilgrims and where G. humbly performed his work. When Giuliano l’Apostata ascended the throne, G. was given the choice between sacrificing and leaving Ostia; he then went to Alexandria, where he suffered martyrdom. This entire account is certainly based on the meager notice in the Liber Pontificalis, but the hagiographer has created a miserable tangle. In fact, he confused the saints of the Ostian basilica with their namesakes on the Caelian, attributing to G. what was actually done, at Porto, by the patrician Panamachius, who was also involved in the story of SS. John and Paul (v.). G. had no cult in antiquity either at Alexandria or at Rome; only in 1726 was a church in Trastevere dedicated to his honor by Benedict XIII.