VIGILIO, bishop of TRENTO, saint, martyr. — Died in 400 or 405, patron of the city and diocese of Trento.
Of a Roman family settled in Trento, he was elected at a very young age (at twenty, according to the Acts) to succeed the bishop Abbondanzio, who appears as the second in the chronological list. He received from s. Ambrogio of Milan the institutionis insignia together with a pastoral instruction that is still preserved (PL 16, 982). From Milan he also received the assistance of the three Cappadocians Sisinnio, Martirio, Alessandro (v.), whom he sent as missionaries to the Val di Non, which was still largely pagan; after founding a Christian community there, the three Levites suffered martyrdom at Sanzeno (397), and V. s. Simpliciano in Milan and to s. Giovanni Crisostomo in Constantinople (the text of the two letters in A. Gallandi, Bibliotheca Veterum Patrum, vol. VIII, Venice 1772, pp. 202–206). V. Trento, which was still partly pagan and Arian, and built within the walls a church with an adjoining building for charitable works (asylum): indefatigable in his zeal, he went so far as to preach the Gospel in the territories of Verona and Brescia. In the mountainous Val Rendena, pagan peasants stoned him. He was buried at Trento, in a burial area outside Porta Veronese, where he had already prepared his tomb: the sacred site is preserved by the present Cathedral. The spread of his cult is attested by
churches dedicated to him in no fewer than 17 dioceses of Italy: the diocese of Trento alone counts 37. Feast day: 26 June.