Saint Ursus of Aosta ( it, Sant'Orso d'Aosta; french: Saint Ours d'Aoste; fl. 6th century) was an Italian

evangelist Evangelist may refer to: Religion * Four Evangelists, the authors of the canonical Christian Gospels * Evangelism, publicly preaching the Gospel with the intention of spreading the teachings of Jesus Christ * Evangelist (Anglican Church), a c ...

, today venerated as a

saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of Q-D-Š, holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and Christian denomination, denominat ...

Biography

Ursus is an Italian saint of the 6th century. His

feast day The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context d ...

is February 1 (June 17 in some areas). The

collegiate church of Saint Ursus The Collegiate church of Saint Ursus ( it, Collegiata di Sant'Orso, french: Collégiale de Saint-Ours) is a collegiate church in Aosta, northern Italy, dedicated to Saint Ursus of Aosta. The original church had a single hall, delimited by a sem ...

Aosta Aosta (, , ; french: Aoste , formerly ; frp, Aoûta , ''Veulla'' or ''Ouhta'' ; lat, Augusta Praetoria Salassorum; wae, Augschtal; pms, Osta) is the principal city of Aosta Valley, a bilingual region in the Italian Alps, north-northwest of ...

is dedicated to him. Said to have been of

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

origin, he evangelized the region of

Digne Digne-les-Bains (; Occitan: ''Dinha dei Banhs''), or simply and historically Digne (''Dinha'' in the classical norm or ''Digno'' in the Mistralian norm), is the prefecture of the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department in the Provence-Alpes-Cô ...

. An opponent of

Arianism Arianism ( grc-x-koine, Ἀρειανισμός, ) is a Christological doctrine first attributed to Arius (), a Christian presbyter from Alexandria, Egypt. Arian theology holds that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, who was begotten by God ...

, he served as

archdeacon An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, St Thomas Christians, Eastern Orthodox churches and some other Christian denominations, above that o ...

to (in Italian, ''San Giocondo''; in French, ''Saint Joconde''),

bishop of Aosta french: Diocèse d'Aoste , image = Aosta Cattedrale.JPG , image_size = 255px , image_alt = Facade of Cathedral of Aosta , caption = Aosta Cathedral , country = Italy , metropolitan = , ...

. When Plocean, an Arian, became bishop of Aosta, Ursus and several other canons left the cathedral of Aosta and established themselves at the present site of the

collegiate church In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons: a non-monastic or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, which may be presided over by a ...

of Saint Ursus.

External links

Saints of February 1: Ursus of Aosta

Sant'Orso d'Aosta

Foire de Saint-Ours
6th-century Christian saints Italian Roman Catholic saints People from Aosta Medieval Irish saints on the Continent 6th-century Irish priests Irish expatriates in Italy {{ireland-saint-stub