- Evasius
Infobox Saint
name= Saint Evasius
birth_date=Third, fourth, oreighth century AD
death_date=Third, fourth, oreighth century AD
feast_day=December 1 ,12 November
venerated_in=Roman Catholic Church
imagesize= 230px
caption=Giovanni Martino Spanzotti , The saints Evasio (probably) and Peter Martyr. Oil on wood, c.1595–1600.National Gallery, London .
birth_place=in the area of Benevento,Italy
death_place=nearCasale Monferrato , Italy.
titles=
beatified_date=
beatified_place=
beatified_by=
canonized_date=
canonized_place=
canonized_by=
attributes=Crozier andMitre
patronage=Bizzarone (CO),
Casale Monferrato (AL),Pedrengo (BG),Rocchetta Palafea (AT)
major_shrine=Duomo of Casale Monferrato
suppressed_date=
issues= Saint Evasius ( _it. Sant'Evasio; probablythird century AD) is believed to have been amissionary andbishop of Asti , in north-westItaly . He was forced to flee to the great Padan forest known as theSelva Cornea , where he and numerous followers were beheaded bypagan , or alternatively byArian , enemies in the area of what is nowCasale Monferrato . He is venerated as asaint of theRoman Catholic Church and is the patron of a number of towns inPiedmont andLombardy . His cult is liveliest at Casale, where his remains are conserved in thecathedral dedicated to him.Life
No account of Evasius’s life is regarded by scholars of
hagiography as reliable. According to the "Historia e vita di Sant'Evasio Vescovo e Martire" by theAugustinian Fulgenzio Emiglio, published in 1708, he was born inBenevento , moved toRome in 260 and was sent as a bishop to Asti in 265. There he suffered persecution at the hands of pagan opponents ofChristianity and was forced to leave the town. The earliest account of the story, the anonymous "Passio Sancti Evasii", which has been variously dated at early eleventh-century, tenth-century and ninth-century, sets it in the times of the Lombard king Luitprand, who reigned during the years 712–744. In the versions deriving from the latter Evasius’s opponents were Lombard adherents of ArianChristianity , rather than pagans. Still other accounts place his life during the fourth century and have him consecrated as Asti’s first bishop around 330.Carbon dating of his relics (assuming that they are genuine) favours the third-century hypothesis.It is said that following his flight from Asti, Evasius took refuge in the forest known as
Selva Cornea along with two companions Proietto and Maliano and probably a third, Natale. At the site of today’s Pozzo Sant’Evasio, near Casale, a miracle occurred. The bishop, tired from his journey, pushed hiscrozier into the ground and lay down to sleep. The pastoral staff set root and blossomed and a spring appeared at its foot.Evasius continued his work of conversion in Casale (then perhaps known as Sedula, or Sedulia), founded a small church dedicated to Lawrence the Deacon and attracted numerous followers. (The remains of such a church exist beneath the current cathedral.) In some accounts he is identified as the first
bishop of Casale .Again, however, the saint attracted fierce opposition and he was beheaded along with Proietto, Maliano and 143 companions, on the orders of the
prefect (orduke orsculdascio ) Atubolo. Skeletal analysis of his remains suggests that Evasius died at about the age of 60.In the version of his life which sets it in the third century the date of Evasius’s martyrdom is given as
1 December ,292 , during the reign ofDiocletian whose later persecution of Christians is well-known. For the version of the story which places it in the first part of the eighth century, the context is that of the struggle between those Lombards who remained attached to their Arian beliefs and the soon-to-be-victoriousTrinitarian new guard, associated particularly with the CatholicTheodolinda who had been Lombard queen from 588 to 628, and to which King Luitprand belonged.Legacy
Saint Natale is held to have escaped the massacre and to have become priest of the church which was newly dedicated to Evasius and in which his remains were sepulchred. At the same time the church was perhaps rebuilt on a larger scale with the support of Luitprand.
Casale, now itself named after the saint as "Casale di Sant’Evasio", grew up around the church during the
middle ages . A new and much larger church was consecrated byPope Paschal II in 1107.In 1215
Ghibelline Casale was sacked by the anti-Imperial forces ofAlessandria andVercelli together with the support ofMilan . The saint’s remains were removed to Alessandria along with other booty. In 1403 Casalesecondottiere Facino Cane brought the relics back fromAlessandria , following a military victory over that town.The church of Sant’Evasio became a cathedral with the establishment of the Diocese of Casale in 1474.
At Pozzo Sant’Evasio (literally "Saint Evasius’s Well") in 1670 a church was erected over the miraculous spring, which had been turned into a well whose waters were reputed to cure diseases.
Feast days
Evasius’s
feast day was entered into theRoman Martyrology as1 December , and it is on that day that he is celebrated in Asti. He is also thepatron saint ofRocchetta Palafea in theLanghe , ofPedrengo in theProvince of Bergamo , and ofBizzarone in theProvince of Como .In Casale Monferrato in the
Province of Alessandria he is the patron saint both of the Diocese and of the Commune. Here his feast is kept on12 November in memory of the day on which Facino Cane returned the relics to the town.References
* [http://www.cattedralecasale.org/capitoli/02storia/santevasio.html Duomo di Casale Monferrato | la storia | Sant'Evasio] it
* [http://www.associazionesangiacomo.it/ricerca%20la%20storia%20di%20Lu/Villa%20Metiliani/La%20pieve%20di%20Mediliano_file/La%20pieve%20di%20Mediliano.htm Pieve di S. Giovanni di Mediliano] it. See the section “Evasio e Valerio: due «martiri» di età longobarda?”
*
* cite book
last = Grignolio
first = Idro
year = 1983
title = Casale Monferrato
publisher = Media editrice
location = Casale Monferrato
pages = pp 6–7, 347Further reading
* A short article which favours a fourth-century life and Arian opponents.
*The article cite web|title=Diocese of Asti|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02018b.htm in Volume 2 ofThe Catholic Encyclopedia (1907) places him in the eighth century.
*cite web|title= Giovanni Martino Spanzotti, "Saint Peter Martyr and a Bishop Saint (probably Saint Evasio)"|url = http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/cgi-bin/WebObjects.dll/CollectionPublisher.woa/wa/work?workNumber=NG1200|publisher =National Gallery, London Part of an altarpiece from the church of S. Francesco in Casale Monferrato by an artist himself probably born in that town.
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