Vigilius of Trent (, ; c. 353 – 26 June 405) is venerated as the
patron saint
A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy or Oriental Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, fa ...
and
bishop of Trent. He should not be confused with the
pope of the same name.
Life
According to tradition, he was a
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 Roman civilization
*Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...
patrician, the son of Maxentia and a man whose name is sometimes given as Theodosius. His brothers, Claudian and Magorian, are also venerated as saints. Vigilius was educated at
Athens
Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...
and seems to have been a friend of
John Chrysostom
John Chrysostom (; ; – 14 September 407) was an important Church Father who served as archbishop of Constantinople. He is known for his preaching and public speaking, his denunciation of abuse of authority by both ecclesiastical and p ...
.
In 380, Vigilius settled in the city of
Trent and was chosen as the city's bishop. He may have been consecrated by either
Ambrose
Ambrose of Milan (; 4 April 397), venerated as Saint Ambrose, was a theologian and statesman who served as Bishop of Milan from 374 to 397. He expressed himself prominently as a public figure, fiercely promoting Roman Christianity against Ari ...
of
Milan
Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...
or Valerian (Valerianus) of Aquileia. Ambrose donated the episcopal insignia and showed a paternal solicitude for Vigilius. As bishop, Vigilius attempted to convert
Arians
Arianism (, ) is a Christological doctrine which rejects the traditional notion of the Trinity and considers Jesus to be a creation of God, and therefore distinct from God. It is named after its major proponent, Arius (). It is considered h ...
and
pagans to Nicene
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...
and is said to have founded thirty parishes in his diocese. He is traditionally regarded as the founder of the
Church of Santa Maria Maggiore, Trent. A letter attributed to Ambrose encourages Vigilius to oppose marriages between Christians and pagans.
[Mershman, Francis. "St. Vigilius." The Catholic Encyclopedia](_blank)
Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 27 July 2018 Vigilius also preached in
Brescia
Brescia (, ; ; or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the region of Lombardy, in Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Lake Garda, Garda and Lake Iseo, Iseo. With a population of 199,949, it is the se ...
and
Verona
Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the Adige, River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and in Northeast Italy, nor ...
, which lay outside of his diocese.
His companions during his missions were Sisinnius, Martyrius and Alexander, who were sent by Ambrose to assist Vigilius.
Tradition makes these three natives of
Cappadocia
Cappadocia (; , from ) is a historical region in Central Anatolia region, Turkey. It is largely in the provinces of Nevşehir, Kayseri, Aksaray, Kırşehir, Sivas and Niğde. Today, the touristic Cappadocia Region is located in Nevşehir ...
. A work called ''De Martyrio SS. Sisinnii, Martyrii et Alexandri'' is attributed to Vigilius.
In 397, Sisinnius, Martyrius and Alexander (''Sisinio, Martirio e Alessandro'') were killed at
Sanzeno
Sanzeno (, ) is a ''Communes of Trentino, comune'' (municipality) in Trentino in the northern Italy, Italian region Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, located about north of Trento. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 948 and an area of .A ...
after they attempted to convert the local population there to Christianity. Vigilius forgave their killers and had the remains of the three men sent to John Chrysostom in
Constantinople
Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...
, as well as to
Simplician, Ambrose's successor, in Milan. Milan would later give some of those relics back to Sanzeno in the 20th century, where they rest in the ().
Vigilius is associated with the legend of
Romedius, who is often depicted alongside or astride a
bear
Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family (biology), family Ursidae (). They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats ...
. According to Romedius'
hagiography
A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a preacher, priest, founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian ...
, Romedius once wished to visit Vigilius, a friend of his youth, but Romedius' horse was torn to pieces by a wild bear. Romedius, however, had the bear bridled by his disciple David (Davide). The bear became docile and carried Romedius on its back to
Trento
Trento ( or ; Ladin language, Ladin and ; ; ; ; ; ), also known in English as Trent, is a city on the Adige, Adige River in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol in Italy. It is the capital of the Trentino, autonomous province of Trento. In the 16th ...
.
Death
According to a much later tradition,
Vigilius, who had been accompanied by his brothers Claudian and Magorian as well as a priest named Julian, was killed in the present-day parish of
Rendena
The Rendena is a breed of cattle from the Trentino, in north-eastern Italy, now raised principally in the provinces of Padova, Trento, Verona and Vicenza. It is particularly suited to transhumant management; almost all the stock in the Trentin ...
, in the
Rendena Valley, where he had been preaching to the locals there, who worshipped the god
Saturn
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant, with an average radius of about 9 times that of Earth. It has an eighth the average density of Earth, but is over 95 tim ...
. Vigilius said
Mass
Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...
and overturned a statue of the god into the
Sarca River. As punishment, he was
stoned to death.
Monks of Ramsgate. “Vigilius”. ''Book of Saints'', 1921. CatholicSaints.Info. 11 November 2017.
/ref>
A statue of the god Neptune
Neptune is the eighth and farthest known planet from the Sun. It is the List of Solar System objects by size, fourth-largest planet in the Solar System by diameter, the third-most-massive planet, and the densest giant planet. It is 17 t ...
stands atop a fountain in front of Vigilius' shrine in Trent today.
Veneration
Vigilius was buried at a church that he built at Trent, later expanded by his successor Eugippius, and dedicated to Vigilius. This became Trento Cathedral Trento Cathedral (, ; ) is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Trento, northern Italy. It is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Trento, and until 1802, was the seat of the Prince-Bishopric of Trent. It was built over a pre-existing 4th ...
. He was immediately venerated after his death, and the acts of his life and death were sent to Rome, and Pope Innocent I
Pope Innocent I () was the bishop of Rome from 401 to his death on 12 March 417. From the beginning of his papacy, he was seen as the general arbitrator of ecclesiastical disputes in both the East and the West. He confirmed the prerogatives of ...
, according to the ''Catholic Encyclopedia
''The'' ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church'', also referred to as the ''Old Catholic Encyclopedia'' and the ''Original Catholic Encyclopedi ...
'', "seems to have made a formal canonization
Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christianity, Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon ca ...
, for Benedict XIV calls Vigilius the first martyr canonized by a pope."
Vigilius' arm was removed as a separate relic and placed into its own reliquary in 1386. He is venerated in Tyrol
Tyrol ( ; historically the Tyrole; ; ) is a historical region in the Alps of Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary, f ...
. A German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany, the country of the Germans and German things
**Germania (Roman era)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
farmers' saying associated with a 2nd feast day of 31 January was: "Friert es zu Vigilius / im März die Eiseskälte kommen muss!" ("If it freezes on St. Vigilius' Day, frost will come in March!"). There are similar sayings associated with other " weather saints".
See also
* Maximus of Turin
Maximus of Turin (; c. 380 – c. 465)
Vol. 10. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 20 November 2021 was a
References
Nicholas Everett, ''Patron Saints of Early Medieval Italy AD c.350-800'' (PIMS/Durham University Press, 2016), pp.124-138.
External links
*
ökumenisches Heiligenlexikon, Vigilius_von_Trient
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vigilius Of Trent
Bishops in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol
350s births
405 deaths
5th-century Christian saints
4th-century Italian bishops
5th-century Christian martyrs
4th-century Italian writers
5th-century Italian writers