Torpes of Pisa (''Torpetius, Tropesius'') (french: Saint Torpès, Saint Tropez, it, Torpete, Torpes, Torpè, russian: святой мученик Тропезий) (died 65 AD) is venerated as an early Christian

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

. The town of Saint-Tropez,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, is named after him. His legend states that he was martyred during the persecutions of

Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68), was the fifth Roman emperor and final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 unti ...

. Most of the accounts about him are considered unreliable. Nothing else is known about his life. He is first mentioned in sources dating from the 9th century.San Torpete (Torpes, Torpè)
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Legend

Elaborations of his legend state that he was a gladiator or

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

who was an attendant to the Emperor Nero, or head of the emperor's personal bodyguard.History of Saint

His full name was ''Caïus Silvius Torpetius'' and he was a native of Pisa. Torpes became a Christian after being converted by Paul the Apostle. He professed his faith during a ceremony in which Nero declared Diana to be the creator of the universe. After Torpes declared himself a Christian, Nero did not want to kill him immediately and instead asked him to renounce his faith. When Torpes refused to do so, Nero had him

decapitated Decapitation or beheading is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and most other animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood, while all other organs are deprived of the i ...

. Another variation of the legend states that Torpes left Rome and went to Pisa, but was recognized as a Christian by the local prefect, Satellicus, who had him executed. Torpes’ head was tossed into the

Arno The Arno is a river in the Tuscany region of Italy. It is the most important river of central Italy after the Tiber. Source and route The river originates on Monte Falterona in the Casentino area of the Apennines, and initially takes a ...

(and was later claimed by Pisa). His body was placed in a rotten boat with a cock and a dog, which had been placed there in order to nourish themselves on the saint's body. The boat floated towards

Liguria it, Ligure , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

. A holy woman named Celerina (Célèrine) had a premonition in a dream of the arrival of the saint's body, and indeed the boat reached the present-day location of Saint-Tropez, where Celerina lived. The boat landed not far from the present-day sailors'

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a buri ...

. The body was untouched by both the cock and the dog. The cock flew away towards the village later named

Cogolin Cogolin () is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. Geography Climate Cogolin has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification ''Csa''). The average annual tempe ...

after it; the dog headed towards the village later named in its honor Grimaud.Villages de Provence Le blog d'andré (dit aussi dédé...)
The local people named their village in honor of him. The theme of the relics being transported across the sea in a small boat is a tale found in the legends of other saints of the region, such as Reparata and

Devota Saint Devota (french: Sainte Dévote; died ca. 303 AD) is the patron saint of Corsica and Monaco. She was killed during the persecutions of the Roman Emperors Diocletian and Maximian. She is sometimes identified with another Corsican saint name ...

. Places on the coasts of Spain and Portugal also declared themselves to be the locations where Torpes' boat had landed. Torpes was venerated in Pisa,

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...

, and

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. He became the

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...

of sailors.

Veneration

The earliest church in Pisa dedicated to him dates from the eleventh century. The civil code of the

Republic of Pisa The Republic of Pisa ( it, Repubblica di Pisa) was an independent state centered on the Tuscan city of Pisa, which existed from the 11th to the 15th century. It rose to become an economic powerhouse, a commercial center whose merchants dominated ...

of 1284 established 29 April as the feast day of the saint. The Pisans credit Torpes with ending a terrible

plague Plague or The Plague may refer to: Agriculture, fauna, and medicine *Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis'' * An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural) * A pandemic caused by such a disease * A swarm of pe ...

that afflicted the city in 1633. In Genoa, where the cult of Torpes was imported by Pisan merchants, the church of

San Torpete San Torpete is a church in central Genoa, northern Italy, dedicated to Saint Torpes. It was founded in the 11th century by local merchants. It was rebuilt in 1730 under designs conceived by Giovanni Antonio Ricca. The interior ceiling is decorat ...

is dedicated to the saint. In Saint-Tropez, his

bust Bust commonly refers to: * A woman's breasts * Bust (sculpture), of head and shoulders * An arrest Bust may also refer to: Places * Bust, Bas-Rhin, a city in France *Lashkargah, Afghanistan, known as Bust historically Media * ''Bust'' (magazin ...

is honored during the festival of Les Bravades in mid-May and again in mid-June in the festival of ''Les Bravades des Espagnols'', a religious and military celebration commemorating the victory of the Tropezian

militia A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...

over the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

in 1637.Nicola Williams, Catherine Le Nevez, ''Provence and the Cote D' Azur'' (Lonely Planet, 2007), 343.

Notes

External links

LE CHEVALIER TORPES

San Torpete (Torpes, Torpè)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Torpes of Pisa 65 deaths Saints from Roman Italy Gallo-Roman saints 1st-century Christian martyrs Year of birth missing Deaths by decapitation