BENEDETTO, ARCIVESCOVO DI MILANO, SANTO

BENEDICT, archbishop of Milan, saint. — The surname Crispo has been arbitrarily assigned to him; he occupied the see of Milan from March 685 to March 732. Of him Paul the Deacon says that he was «a man of particular holiness, whose good repute spread throughout all Italy» (Hist. Langob., VI, 29, in MGH, Scriptores Langob., p. 174). He went to Rome to uphold his right to consecrate the bishop of Pavia «who instead, from ancient times, was consecrated in Rome» (ibid.). Milanese writers claimed that he was responsible for ending the schism of the Three Chapters still alive in the city, but no intervention of his is recalled by ancient testimonies; thus it is only hypothetical that he is the author of the epitaph of King Cædralia, who died in Rome in 689. A Medicinae libellus written by the Milanese deacon Crispo, edited by Mai, has nothing to do with B. He is venerated today as a saint on the 6th of September.