BELLINO, SANTO

BELLINO, Saint. — A native of Padua, of the Bertaldo family. Already a priest in 1107, he became a canon and later archpriest of the Cathedral; exiled to Este with Bishop Sinibaldo (1110), he was able to return to Padua in 1115. He took part with his bishop in the Lateran Council of 1123; around 1125 or 1126 he was elected Bishop of Padua. He held the episcopal see for more than twenty years: he was a staunch defender of ecclesiastical rights and immunities and generously beneficent toward his subjects. While traveling on a pastoral visit to Fratta Polesine in Rovigo (diocese of Adria), he was killed by a certain Tommaso Capivacca (26 Nov. 1147). Buried in the church of St. James in Fratta, he was immediately venerated as a martyr. The accounts regarding a possible canonization by Eugenius III in 1151 or by Eugenius IV in 1147 are not supported by reliable documents; in the diocese of Adria he is venerated as the primary patron of the diocese. His feast is celebrated on 26 November.