DAVINO, saint. — Born in Greater Armenia around the year 1000; died in 1050. While still young, he chose the life of solitude. He visited the Holy Land, whence he went to Rome, ever as a pilgrim ad limina, and from there wished to travel to Spain, to the shrine of S. Giacomo; however, having arrived in Lucca in May 1050, he fell ill in the pilgrims’ hospice. The noblewoman Ata received him into her own home, where he remained until his death on 3 June; he was buried near the church of S. Michele.
Alessandro III, probably in 1159, declared D. a saint. His relics were then transferred to the altar of S. Luca in the same church, in a richly decorated reliquary, later moved in 1592 beneath the high altar. In 1647 the relics were displayed to the faithful, among whom were numerous notables and merchants of the Armenian colony in Livorno.