ALEXANDER SAULI, Saint. - Bishop of Aleria, b. in Milan on 15 Feb. 1534 to a noble Genoese family, d. at Calosso (Asti) on 11 Oct. 1592. After completing his humanistic studies at Pavia, he returned at the age of 17 to Milan, where, having been appointed page to the Emperor Charles V, he saw a comfortable and brilliant career open before him; but he wished to renounce the allurements of the world and asked to be accepted into the young Congregation of the Clerics Regular of St. Paul (Barnabites). His request was subjected to a harsh test: dressed as a page, he had to carry a large cross on his shoulders through the main streets of Milan and not return without having given proof of his love for the religious life. He obeyed - it was the feast of Pentecost of 1551 - and in the Piazza dei Mercanti, near the Cathedral, he brought a mountebank down from his platform, erected the cross there and began a sermon on the service that men must render to God. Immediately received into the Congregation, he was sent to complete his studies at the Barnabite college in Pavia, which he enlarged and endowed with a rich library at his own expense. Ordained a priest (1556), he taught theology and philosophy at the University and was soon chosen by the bishop, Ippolito Rossi, as his theologian. But he distinguished himself there even more by the art and above all the effectiveness of his preaching. St. Charles Borromeo, who had invited him to preach in Milan, wanted him as his confessor and adviser. At Pavia, almost anticipating today's Catholic university associations, he organized and directed an Academy made up of young men who attended the University. Elected general of his institute at only 33 years of age, in 1567, he not only saw to preserving intact the observance of the rule, but took altogether special care for the formation of the young recruits, so that they might grow worthy, in both doctrine and holiness, of the ministries to which they would be called. For his such outstanding gifts, St. Pius V appointed him, even against his protests, bishop of Aleria in Corsica, and he was consecrated by St. Charles in 1570.
The mission entrusted to him was certainly arduous. The conditions of the island were frightful: for 70 years it had not seen a bishop; the population, reduced and barbarized, fed on herbs and acorns; about a thousand murders a year; the churches served as sheepfolds and the priests did not even know the rites of the Mass. In the episcopal city of Aleria he found not two habitable rooms; of the cathedral only the walls existed. Having settled at Corte, he began the visitation of the diocese, attending first of all to the priests; he gathered them in synods; in the third he promulgated the decrees of the Council of Trent and meanwhile founded his seminary and established his residence at Cervione. In addition to his episcopal functions, he devoted himself to all the ministries of the simple priest; catechism classes for the people, lessons for his clerics, visits to the sick, pacification of hatreds and discords among families.
After twenty years of unheard-of labors, having refused the sees of Tortona and Genoa, he had to accept that of Pavia (1591); but he died there a year later, during the pastoral visitation, at Calosso in the territory of Asti. His body is venerated in the cathedral of Pavia. He was beatified by Benedict XIV (1742) and canonized by Pius X in 1904. His feast is celebrated on 11 Oct.
Noteworthy among his printed works are his letters and episcopal constitutions; furthermore: Confessionale Fr. Hier. Savonarolae, Pavia 1567 (13 ed. up to 1605); Istruttione compendiosa, Genoa 1571 (for the service of ordinands and confessors); Dottrina del Catechismo Romano ridotto a nuovo modo più semplice e facile, Pavia 1581; De officiis et moribus Episcopi, Commentariorum, Rome 1866.