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[[File:Cath st gohard01.jpg|thumb|right|St. Gohard and the Vikings]]
'''Gohard''' or '''Gunhard''' was a 9th-century [[bishop of Nantes]], lord of [[Blain, Loire-Atlantique|Blain]], [[saint]] and [[cephalophore]] [[martyr]] of the [[Roman Catholic Church]].
Gohard was born in [[Angers]]. It was during his [[Bishop|episcopate]] that the [[Battle of Blain]] took place in 843 AD, the first major battle between the [[Franks]] and the [[Britons]]. Damage caused by struggles between these two factions in the area was compounded by [[Viking]] raids.
On the feast day of St. [[John the Baptist]], a month after the defeat of Blain, the [[Vikings]] arrived at Nantes. Gohard was celebrating [[Mass (liturgy)|Mass]] in [[Nantes Cathedral]] before a large audience when the Vikings attacked, killing the priest and his congregation.<ref>Faits évoqués par les Annales de Saint-Serge d'Angers et reprises dans la [[Chronique de Nantes]].</ref> Legend says that Gohard picked up his severed head and walked down to the [[Loire]] where a boat took him to Angers.<ref>Jean-Joseph Julaud, L'Histoire de France pour les nuls, tome 1, p. 33.</ref> His body was buried in St. Peter's Collegiate Church in Angers, the city where he was born.<ref>François Lebrun, Joseph Avril - Le Diocèse d'Angers - page 17.</ref>
Gohard was [[canonized]] in 1096. The [[Romanesque architecture|Romanesque]] [[crypt]] of Nantes Cathedral is dedicated to him, and was redesigned shortly after his canonization to house relics brought from Angers. A side chapel of the cathedral is also dedicated to him.
His [[feast day]] is celebrated on 24 June.<ref>[http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/7397/Saint-Gohard.html "Saint-Gohard", Nominis]</ref>
<Gallery>
File:Nantes Cathedral chapel of St. Gohard.jpg |Chapel of St. Gohard in [[Nantes Cathedral]]
File:Saint Gohard.jpg |Church of St. Gohard
File:Guarbecque (Pas-de-Calais) église Saint-Nicolas PA00108296 buste St.Gohard.JPG|St. Gohard in the church of St. Nicholas
</gallery>
==See also==
* [[Gotthard of Hildesheim]]
==References==
<references/>
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[[Category:Bishops in the Carolingian Empire]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:Medieval Breton saints]]