Martinianus (or ''Martinus'', it, Martiniano) was

Archbishop of Milan The Archdiocese of Milan ( it, Arcidiocesi di Milano; la, Archidioecesis Mediolanensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Italy which covers the areas of Milan, Monza, Lecco and Varese. It has lon ...

from 423 to 435. He is honoured as a Saint in the

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops vi ...

es. His feast day is 2 January.

Life

A tradition associates Martinianus with the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

family of the Hosii. According to the writings of Ennodius, bishop of

Pavia Pavia (, , , ; la, Ticinum; Medieval Latin: ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy in northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was the cap ...

in early 6th-century,Ennodius, Carmina II, 81 Martinianus was elected bishop of Milan notwithstanding he had no desire for that position due to his humility and fear. He founded two churches in Milan, one of them, possibly founded in 417, was dedicated to both Saint Zechariah and

Saint Stephen Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ''Stéphanos'', meaning "wreath, crown" and by extension "reward, honor, renown, fame", often given as a title rather than as a name; c. 5 – c. 34 AD) is traditionally venerated as the protomartyr or first ...

, and it is now known, after several reconstructions, as

Basilica di Santo Stefano Maggiore Basilica di Santo Stefano Maggiore is a church in Milan, Italy. It was established in the 5th century. Originally dedicated to both Saint Zechariah and Saint Stephen, it was later dedicated to Saint Stephen only. Throughout its history, has underg ...

(or the Basilica of Saint Stephen). Martinianus is mentioned in a letter by the moderate

Nestorian Nestorianism is a term used in Christian theology and Church history to refer to several mutually related but doctrinarily distinct sets of teachings. The first meaning of the term is related to the original teachings of Christian theologian ...

John of Antioch, written in 431 to Rufus, the bishop of Thessalonica. In the letter, John tells Rufus that he had received a letter from the "very godly and holy artinianus bishop of Milan", in which it was related that Martinianus had "sent to the very pious emperor a work by the blessed Ambrose on the incarnation of the Lord", the work now generally known as the treatise, (full title: ; ). Martinianus died on 29 December 435. His feast day was later postponed to the next 2 January, due to the introduction of the Christmas' octave. Martinianus was buried in the Basilica of Saint Stephen in Milan. In 1988 his body was

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 ...

to the Milan Cathedral and buried under the altar of

Saint Agatha Agatha of Sicily () is a Christian saint. Her feast is on 5 February. Agatha was born in Catania, part of the Roman Province of Sicily, and was martyred . She is one of several virgin martyrs who are commemorated by name in the Canon of the Ma ...

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Martinianus 01 Of Milan, Archbishop Archbishops of Milan 435 deaths 5th-century Christian saints Italian saints Burials at Milan Cathedral Year of birth unknown