Felician(us) of Foligno ( it, San Feliciano di Foligno) (c. 160 – c. 250) is 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 ...

Foligno Foligno (; Southern Umbrian: ''Fuligno'') is an ancient town of Italy in the province of Perugia in east central Umbria, on the Topino river where it leaves the Apennines and enters the wide plain of the Clitunno river system. It is located so ...

Biography

According to

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

tradition, he was born in ''Forum Flaminii'' (present-day

San Giovanni Profiamma San Giovanni Profiamma is a civil parish in the municipality of Foligno in the province of Perugia, which is also an active bishopric, and is the historical site of the former Roman town and bishopric of Foro Flaminii, which remains a Latin Catholi ...

), on the

Via Flaminia The Via Flaminia or Flaminian Way was an ancient Roman road leading from Rome over the Apennine Mountains to ''Ariminum'' (Rimini) on the coast of the Adriatic Sea, and due to the ruggedness of the mountains was the major option the Romans had ...

, of a Christian family, around 160. He was the spiritual student of

Pope Eleuterus Pope Eleutherius (died 24 May 189), also known as Eleutherus, was the bishop of Rome from c. 174 to his death. His pontificate is alternatively dated to 171-185 or 177-193. He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church. He is linked to a numbe ...

and evangelized in Foligno,

Spello Spello (in Antiquity: Hispellum) is an ancient town and ''comune'' (township) of Italy, in the province of Perugia in eastern-central Umbria, on the lower southern flank of Mt. Subasio. It is 6 km (4 mi) NNW of Foligno and 10 km (6 ...

Bevagna Bevagna is a town and ''comune'' in the central part of the Italian province of Perugia (Umbria), in the flood plain of the Topino river. Bevagna is south-east of Perugia, west of Foligno, north-north-west of Montefalco, south of Assisi and ...

Assisi Assisi (, also , ; from la, Asisium) is a town and ''comune'' of Italy in the Province of Perugia in the Umbria region, on the western flank of Monte Subasio. It is generally regarded as the birthplace of the Latin poet Propertius, born aroun ...

Perugia Perugia (, , ; lat, Perusia) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber, and of the province of Perugia. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part o ...

Norcia Norcia (), traditionally known in English by its Latin name of Nursia (), is a town and comune in the province of Perugia (Italy) in southeastern Umbria. Unlike many ancient towns, it is located in a wide plain abutting the Monti Sibillini, a su ...

Plestia ''Plestia'' is a genus of planthoppers in the subfamily Ricaniinae, erected by Carl Stål Carl Stål (21 March 1833 – 13 June 1878) was a Swedish entomologist specialising in Hemiptera. He was born at Karlberg Castle, Stockholm on 21 M ...

Trevi The area of freedom, security and justice (AFSJ) is a collection of justice as well as migration & home affairs policies designed to ensure security, rights and free movement within the European Union (EU). Fields covered include the harmonisati ...

, and

Spoleto Spoleto (, also , , ; la, Spoletum) is an ancient city in the Italian province of Perugia in east-central Umbria on a foothill of the Apennines. It is S. of Trevi, N. of Terni, SE of Perugia; SE of Florence; and N of Rome. History Spolet ...

.San Feliciano di Foligno
/ref> He was later

consecrated Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service. The word ''consecration'' literally means "association with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different grou ...

bishop of Foligno The Diocese of Foligno ( la, Dioecesis Fulginatensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Umbria, Italy. It is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Pe ...

Pope Victor I Pope Victor I (died 199) was the bishop of Rome in the late second century (189–199 A.D.). The dates of his tenure are uncertain, but one source states he became pope in 189 and gives the year of his death as 199.Kirsch, Johann Peter (1912). "Po ...

around 204 (he was the first bishop to receive the

pallium The pallium (derived from the Roman ''pallium'' or ''palla'', a woolen cloak; : ''pallia'') is an ecclesiastical vestment in the Catholic Church, originally peculiar to the pope, but for many centuries bestowed by the Holy See upon metropolit ...

as a symbol of his office).Patron Saints Index: Saint Felician of Foligno
He ordained

Valentine of Terni Saint Valentine ( it, San Valentino; la, Valentinus) was a 3rd-century Roman saint, commemorated in Western Christianity on February 14 and in Eastern Orthodoxy on July 6. From the High Middle Ages, his Saints' Day has been associated with a ...

as a priest. His episcopate lasted for more than 50 years; he was one of the first Christian bishops of northern Italy. He was arrested at the age of 94 for refusing to sacrifice to the

Roman gods The Roman deities most widely known today are those the Romans identified with Greek counterparts (see ''interpretatio graeca''), integrating Greek myths, iconography, and sometimes religious practices into Roman culture, including Latin litera ...

during the persecutions of

Decius Gaius Messius Quintus Traianus Decius ( 201 ADJune 251 AD), sometimes translated as Trajan Decius or Decius, was the emperor of the Roman Empire from 249 to 251. A distinguished politician during the reign of Philip the Arab, Decius was procla ...

. He was tortured and scourged, and died outside Foligno while being conveyed to Rome for his execution.

Saint Messalina

Saint Messalina was a

consecrated virgin In the Catholic Church, a consecrated virgin is a woman who has been consecrated by the church to a life of perpetual virginity as a bride of Christ. Consecrated virgins are consecrated by the diocesan bishop according to the approved liturgical ...

who had received the religious veil from Felician. She cared for him during his imprisonment, and for this she was also arrested and clubbed to death when she refused to sacrifice to the Roman gods.Saint of the Day, January 24: ''Felician of Foligno & Messalina''
''SaintPatrickDC.org''. Retrieved 2012-03-08.

Veneration

A church was built over his grave at Foligno. His

relics In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or the personal effects of the saint or venerated person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tangi ...

were transferred to

Metz Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand E ...

on October 4, 970. In 965 some relics were

translated Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transla ...

Minden Minden () is a middle-sized town in the very north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, the greatest town between Bielefeld and Hanover. It is the capital of the district (''Kreis'') of Minden-Lübbecke, which is part of the region of Detm ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

; Felician was thus erroneously considered a bishop of that German city (and he had a separate feast day of October 20), an error that entered the ''Roman Martyrology''. Some of his relics were later returned to Foligno in 1673–4.

Foligno Cathedral Foligno Cathedral ( it, Basilica Cattedrale di San Feliciano; Duomo di Foligno) is a Catholic cathedral situated on the Piazza della Repubblica in the center of Foligno, Italy. The cathedral, built on the site of an earlier basilica, is dedicated ...

preserves a statue of the saint, of silver and bronze, made by the sculptor

Giovanni Battista Maini Giovanni Battista Maini (6 February 1690 – 29 July 1752) was an Italian sculptor of the Late-Baroque period, active mainly in Rome. He was born in Cassano Magnago in Lombardy, and died in Rome. He may have had contacts with Foggini in Florence ...

. File:Foligno093.jpg, Scene from the Life of St. Felician File:Foligno082.jpg, Statue of Felician enthroned File:Foligno024.jpg, Depiction of Felician. Cathedral of Foligno.

Notes

External links

Felician of Foligno

San Feliciano di Foligno

San Feliciano
{{DEFAULTSORT:Felician Of Foligno 3rd-century Italian bishops Bishops of Foligno 160 births 250 deaths 3rd-century Christian martyrs