Enciclopedia Cattolica

NEPOZIANO

Nepotianus

Volume VIII · p. 1036 · 1952

English translation · Testo originale italiano

NEPOZIANO, santo. - Nipote di Eliodoro, ve-scovo di Altino, e amico di s. Girolamo, visse nella seconda metà del sec. IV.
NEPOZIANO, santo. - Nipote di Eliodoro, ve-scovo di Altino, e amico di s. Girolamo, visse nella seconda metà del sec. IV.

Machine translation of the 1948–1954 Italian original. The original text is authoritative.

NEPOTIAN, St. — Nephew of Eliodorus, bishop of Altino, and friend of St. Jerome, he lived in the second half of the 4th century.

In his youth he embraced a military career; but then, distributing his goods to the poor, he consecrated himself to God. At first he meditated retiring to an ascetic life in the East or in one of the deserted islands of Dalmatia; but the affection and veneration he bore for Eliodorus kept him in his homeland. Initiated into ecclesiastical life, he became a priest and remained at Altino as assistant to his uncle.

N. died still young in 396, and St. Jerome, after dedicating to him a letter on the duties of clerics and priests (Ep., 52), composed his funeral oration in another admirable letter to Eliodorus (Ep., 60). The Hieronymian Martyrology, followed by Notker, commemorates his feast on May 11.

BIBL.: Acta SS. Maii, Paris-Rome 1866, pp. 626-28; C. Hole, s. V. in Dictionary of Christian biography, IV, London 1887, p. 24; F. Cavallera, St Jérôme, I, Louvain 1922, pp. 182-184; Martyr. Hieronymianum, p. 247. [Emanuele Romanelli]