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

As a young man he embraced a military career; but later, having distributed his goods to the poor, he consecrated himself to God. At first he considered withdrawing to an ascetic life in the East or on one of the deserted islands of Dalmatia; but his affection and veneration for Heliodorus kept him in his homeland. Having been initiated into the ecclesiastical life, he became a priest and remained at Altino as his uncle's coadjutor.

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

Bibliography4 works

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. Cavaliera, St Jérôme, I, Louvain 1922, pp. 152-184; Martyr. Hieronymianum, p. 247. [Emanuele Romanelli]

@incollection{ec8_nepoziano_santo, author = {Romanelli, Emanuele}, title = {Nepoziano, santo}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VIII}, pages = {1763--1764}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1952}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/nepoziano-santo} }

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Nepotian, Saint

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