EUSEBIO di VERCELLI, saint. – Born in Sardinia. In the Church of Rome he held the office of lector and later, around 345, was appointed bishop of Vercelli. He is regarded as the apostle of Piedmont; he was the first in the West to introduce regular life into the diocesan clergy.
Against Arianism, which was spreading ever more widely, favoured and protected by the emperor Constantius, who, after defeating Magnentius at Mursa in 351, had extended his authority over the lands of the West, he courageously and firmly rose in defence of the orthodox doctrine of the Christian Church, finding valuable support in Hilary of Poitiers. In 354 he was sent by Pope Liberius, together with Lucifer, bishop of Cagliari, to Arles to the emperor Constantius, so that, since Athanasius had been condemned by prelates obedient to the imperial wishes and even by the papal legate Vincent of Capua, assembled in synod at the emperor’s winter residence at Arles and not at Aquileia, as the Pope desired, he might urge Constantius to convoke a new synod. Since the emperor had an interest in the spread of Arianism in the territories of the West, he accepted the embassy’s request, and in the first months of 353 such a council took place at Milan. E. took an active part in it and demanded that, since most of the assembly was heretical, it should subscribe to the Nicene Creed. Those present did not accept the request, and E. openly rebelled against the will of the emperor and his party; rather than subscribe to the deposition of Athanasius, he chose exile. He was in Scythopolis, in Cappadocia, and finally in Egypt, whence the edict of Julian the Apostate recalled him « e tertio exilio » in 361.
(per cortesia di mons. Ferraris)
EUSEBIO da VERCELLI, saint – Codex Evangeliorum (cod. a), probably in the autograph hand of s. E.: 1st and 2nd cols.: Lc. 14, 2-8; 2nd and 4th cols.: Lc. 13, 21 sqg. – Vercelli, chapter archive of the Cathedral.
He died between 370 and 371. The Church numbers him among its martyrs (16 Dec.).
Three letters of his writings remain: 1° Ad Costantium Augustum, in which he replies to the Emperor, who had invited him to attend the Council; 2° Ad Presbyteros et plebem Italiae, sent from his Palestinian exile to the Church of Vercelli. It contains an Exemplar libelli facci ad Patrophilum cum suis, in which he defends himself against the accusations levelled against him by the Arian bishop Patrophilus; 3° Ad Gregorium episcopum Spanensem, sent from Egypt to Gregory of Elvira.
St Jerome, who numbers him among the viri illustres (De vir. ill., 96), attributes to him the Latin translation of the Commentaries on Eusebius of Caesarea (v.).
Among the works of doubtful authenticity are: 1° Simbolum Athanasiarum, the Symbolum Quicunque, and seven of the twelve pseudo-Athanasian books De Trinitate, which Burn considers authentic, while instead rejecting the Symbolum.
2° De Sancta Trinitate confessio. 3° Exortatio s. Ambrosii episcopi ad neophytos de Symbolo, attributed by some to Lucifer of Cagliari and by others (Brewer) to Rufinus. It remains uncertain whether he wrote the Codex of the Gospels preserved in the cathedral of Vercelli, which is one of the most important biblical documents preceding St Jerome.