Saint Herculanus of Perugia

Herculanus was bishop of Perugia, in central Italy, during the wars between the Byzantines and the Ostrogoths. When the Gothic king Totila captured the city around 549, after a long siege, he ordered the bishop to be executed. Saint Gregory the Great tells in his Dialogues that when the body was later moved for burial, it was found incorrupt, with the head miraculously joined again to the body.

He is the patron of Perugia, where the church of Sant'Ercolano stands near the place of his martyrdom, and his image with bishop's miter and the city's griffin often appears in Perugian art.