St Emilianus (28th January)

St Emilianus came from Armenia to Spoleto in the 3rd century.  Pope Marcellinus consecrated him as the first bishop of Trevi in 296 and he was martyred with three companions in 304.  He apparently survived a tussle with the lions in a Roman amphitheatre at Trevi (of which there are only fragmentary records).

He was beheaded under an olive tree at nearby Bovara.  The tree illustrated here, which is some 200 meters below the Abbazia di San Pietro in Bovara, is believed to be the tree in question.

The relics of St Emilianus were probably originally preserved in a church on the site of Sant’ Emiliano in Trevi, but they were subsequently taken to Spoleto.  The date of the translation is unknown, but St Emilianus is mentioned in the statutes of Spoleto of 1296 alongside the other patron saints of that city.  In 1660, during work to lower the floor of the presbytery of the Duomo of Spoleto, some relics were discovered along with an inscription that identified them as those of St Emilianus.  They were translated to Sant' Emiliano in Trevi in 1935 and are now in the right aisle of this church (illustrated).

An image of St Emilianus is taken in procession on the saint's feast day during the Processione dell' Illuminata.  This follows the line of the inner walls of Trevi, and is believed to date back to a time before 1264, when the outer walls were built.   The present gilded wooden statue that is used in the procession was commissioned in 1753.