“St” Bevignate (14th May) and
Raniero Fasano
All that is known about “St” Bevignate comes from the poorly documented traditions that surround Raniero Fasani.
Raniero Fasano
This hermit is recorded in Perugia in 1258, during the time of the Bolognese podestà, Orlandino Marescotti. While he prayed before an image of the Virgin, he saw her crying, presumably because of the sinfulness of mankind, and resolved to devote himself to preaching penance and promoting the practice of self-flagellation. An unknown companion appeared, who identified himself as brother Bevignate. Together, they went to San Fiorenzo, managing to enter it despite the fact that it was closed. The sacristan who found them inside the locked church was moved to submit to a life of penance.
The next night, a young women escorted by two boys appeared to Raniero and gave him a letter. Bevignate explained that this was the Virgin and SS Michael and Gabriel. The letter revealed that God was inflamed by the sins of men and intent upon their destruction, but that the Virgin had interceded and persuaded Him to allow time for penitence. Encouraged by Bevignate, Raniero returned repeatedly to see the Bishop of Perugia until the latter agreed to read and act upon the contents of the letter. Thus was born the flagellant movement, which rapidly spread across north and central Italy.
“St” Bevignate
Apart from this legend, nothing is known about Bevignate. Some traditions place him in the 5th century while others make him a contemporary of Raniero Fasani. Nevertheless, the Templars, who took over the Oratorio di San Gerolamo near the hermitage of Raniero Fasani consecrated the church they built there to San Bevignate.
The Templars gave hospitality to Raniero da Fasoli at San Bevignate, and became associated with the attempts by the Commune to secure the canonisation of Bevignate (see below). Two frescoes (1260s) in the apse of the church bear witness to some aspects of the cult:
the Bishop of Perugia grants Bevignate permission to live in the forest, which presumably represents the site on which the church was later built; and
the Bishop gives him a white hermit’s cowl, thereby taking him into episcopal protection.
Another fresco in the apse features a procession of flagellants.
Campaign for Canonisation
The campaign for the canonisation of Bevignate began in 1260 when, at the instigation of the bishop, the Commune sent four ambassadors to Pope Alexander IV to press for the initiation of an enquiry into the case for canonisation. The powerful Templar, Bonvicino d’ Assisi, who was the Chamberlain at the papal court and who had established the Templar complex at San Bevignate, gave his active support, but to no avail. Similar approaches to Pope Clement IV (who had been elected and crowned at Perugia) in 1266-7 also failed.
Undaunted, the Perugians persisted. Hopes were particularly high in 1277, when the Templar Grand Master, William of Beaujeu was at the court of Pope John XXI at Viterbo. Two Perugian ambassadors were duly dispatched, but Pope John XXI died and William of Beaujeu returned to the Holy Land. In 1285, the Commune ordered a search of San Bevignate in order to secure the relics of Bevignate, doubtless because there was still hope of his canonisation.
A series of statutes in the 14th and 15th centuries imposed on the civic authorities an obligation to continue to press the case for canonisation. In 1453, perhaps having despaired of official recognition, the Commune decreed that the feast of “St” Bevignate should be celebrated in Perugia each year on 14th May, in effect carrying out a lay canonisation.
The local cult obtained papal recognition in 1605, and the supposed relics of “St” Bevignate were translated with great ceremony from the crypt of San Bevignateto the Duomo in 1608. They are still in the Duomo, under the altar in the Cappella di Santo Stefano (right transept).