RUSTICO, saint, martyr: V. DIONIGI, RUSTICO and ELEUTERIO, saints martyrs.
RUSTICO of NARBONA, saint. «He is commemorated in the Roman Martyrology on 26 Oct. He was the son of Bishop Bonoso, and after being orphaned he was educated by his mother, who also sent him to Rome to perfect his studies.
It seems that St Jerome wrote him a letter with advice on the ascetic life to which R. felt inclined. He actually entered the monastery at Marseilles, from which he emerged in 427, elected bishop of Narbona. In the government of the diocese, even in calamitous times due to the invasions of the Goths and the consequent social disorders, R. showed himself an excellent shepherd. In 448 he consecrated the new cathedral of Narbona, and in 451 he took part in the Synod of Arles at which the Tomus Leonis ad Flavianum was approved; in 455 he intervened to settle the dispute between Bishop Theodore and the abbot of Lérins. He was in correspondence with St Leo the Great, to whom he asked for explanations on certain questions and in 458 also for exemption from office. He nevertheless remained in charge of the diocese until his death, which occurred around 461.