cephalophore

Any of a group of saints depicted in art carrying heads in their hands.

According to William of Worcester, quite a large number of Cornish saints were cephalophores: besides S. Nectan and S. Willow, he tells us that “there were three brothers under the name of Genesius and each one carried his head.”

Synonym of cephalopod: a mollusk of the class Cephalopoda.