Vigilius, Saint, Bishop of Trent, Martyr

VIGILIUS, Saint, Bishop of Trent, Martyr. - Died in 400 or 405, patron of the city and diocese of Trento.

Born of a Roman family settled in Trento, he was elected at a very young age (at twenty, according to the Acts) to succeed Bishop Abbondanzio, who appears second in the chronological list. He received from St. Ambrose of Milan the institutionis insignia together with a pastoral instruction still preserved (PL 16, 982). From Milan he also had the help of the three Cappadocians Sisinnio, Martirio and Alessandro (v.), whom he sent as missionaries to the Val di Non, still largely pagan; the three levites, after founding a Christian community there, suffered martyrdom at the locality of Sanzeno (397), and V. sent the account of the event and the relics to St. Simplician in Milan and to St. John Chrysostom in Constantinople (text of the two letters in A. Gallandi, Bibliotheca Veterum Patrum, t. VIII, Venice 1772, pp. 202-206). V. completed the conversion of the city of Trento, still partly pagan and Arian, and built within the walls a church with an adjoining building for charitable works (asylum): incontestable in his zeal, he went so far as to preach the Gospel even in the territories of Verona and Brescia. In the Alpine Val Rendena pagan peasants stoned him. He was buried in Trento, in a burial area outside Porta Veronese, where he had already prepared his tomb: the sacred place is now guarded by the present Cathedral. The spread of his cult is attested by the churches dedicated to him in as many as 17 dioceses of Italy: the diocese of Trento alone has 37. Feast day June 26.

Igino Rogger