Benedict, Archbishop of Milan, Saint

BENEDETTO, archbishop of MILANO, saint. - He has arbitrarily been given the surname Crispo; he occupied the see of Milano from March 685 to March 732. Paolo Diacono says of him that he was “a man of particular holiness, whose good reputation spread throughout 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 a priscis temporibus was consecrated at Rome” (ibid.). Milanese writers claimed that the extinction of the schism of the Three Chapters, still alive in the city, was due to him, but no intervention by him is recorded in the ancient testimonies; likewise, it is only hypothetical that he was the author of the epitaph of King Ceadralla, who died at 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 6 September.