ST. DESIDERIUS / QUIRINUS

South transept Spire-G34

As for Spire G23, in this case too studies conducted by the Archive of Veneranda Fabbrica attribute a double identity to this work, namely San Desiderio and San Quirino.Native of the hinterland of Genoa, San Desiderio lived in the 4th century and was miraculously appointed to the bishopric of Langres. In the early 7th century, Varnacarius, a clergyman of that city, wrote a story of his martyrdom, basing it on local traditions. According to Varnacarius, bishop Desiderio was beheaded during a Vandal invasion led by Chrocus. However, there seems to have been some confusion about the dates in this regard, and the invasion cited was actually that of the Germans in 355-357 AD. A legend relates that the beheaded holy bishop picked up his head and returned to the city through a crevice in the rock that had opened to allow him to pass. It can still be seen today.Instead, San Quirino was a Roman tribune to whom martyrs Alexander, Eventius and Theodulus were delivered. His was converted after witnessing the miracles granted by the three martyrs, and was baptised along with his daughter Balbina. He later suffered the same martyrdom and died beheaded on 30 March of a year in the early 3rd century. His body was buried in the Pretestato cemetery on via Appia, in Rome. The saint’s relics, instead, had another fate and are, to date, venerated in the cathedral of St. Quirinus of Neuss. His cult reached a climax in 1471, during the siege of Neuss, and spread from there throughout Germany, Belgium and Italy.