St Rufinus (11th August)
St Peter Damian recorded all that was known about the early cult of St Rufinus in a sermon in ca. 1050:
he was martyred in Roman times near the River Chiascio at Costano (between Assisi and Bettona);
his relics were later translated to Assisi "though fear of pagan attack" and re-housed in a "small basilica";
- the original sarcophagus was abandoned outside Assisi; and
the feast of St Rufinus was celebrated on July 30th, the date of the basilica's dedication.
[A 16th century inscription in front of the font in the right aisle of the present church records local traditions in which Bishop Basil translated the relics to Assisi in 412.]
The community of canons that administered the basilica was apparently at loggerheads with Bishop Ugone. According to St Peter Damian, Bishop Ugone decided that, since his church of Santa
Maria Maggiore did not have the martyrs body, at least it might be
compensated by the consolation of his empty sarcophagus. He duly sent men to bring the sarcophagus into the city. When
they arrived at a certain crossroads , the
people (or at least a faction that supported the canons) rioted. St Rufinus miraculously came to their aid, and while some 60 of the
Bishops men could no longer move the sarcophagus, only six men were needed to divert it to San Rufino.
(The crossroads was almost certainly at the site of the present Arco di Santa Chiara, which was then outside the city walls. The road ahead led to the Piazza del Comune; that to the left led to Porta Moiano and Santa Maria Maggiore; and that to the right led to San Rufino.)
These events led to upsurge in the cult of the saint and Bishop Ugone now bowed to the inevitable: he built a new church in what is now the Piazza di San Rufino and placed the relics and their sarcophagus under its altar.
Bishop Ugone also instituted a search for more information about St Rufinus, and an old man called Maurinus soon claimed to have found his legend at Anagni. According to this manuscript, St Rufinus had been Bishop of Amasia in Pontus (Asia Minor) before fleeing to Trasocco in Marsia (southern Italy) with his son St Caesidius. He consecrated a church there which he left in the care of St Caesidius when he moved to Assisi. (St Caesidius was martyred with a number of other Christians on the shores of Lake Fucino in the reign of the Emperor Maximinus (235 - 8). A church dedicated to SS Rufino e Cesidio exists at Trasocco, and the feast of St Caesidius is celebrated on 31st August).
St Rufinus fell foul of the urban consul Aspasius, and was arrested and tortured. He survived an attempt to burn him alive and was then thrown into the Chiascio with a stone around his neck on the 10th August. Bishop Ugone duly instituted a new feast of St Rufinus of Assisi on that date.
St Peter Damian never referred to St Rufinus as a bishop, and the legend that Maurinus discovered did not say that he had been Bishop of Assisi. Nevertheless, Bishop Ugone generally signed himself Ugo episcopus
vicarious Sancti Rufini, suggesting that he regarded St Rufinus as the first of the city's bishops, and this is how he is still generally described.
Read more:
A. Brunacci, "Leggende e Culto di San Rufino in Assisi"
in F. Santucci (Ed.), "La cattedrale di San Rufino in Assisi", Assisi (1999)
Relevant sections of the sermon of St Peter Damian are translated into English in:
R. Brown, "The Roots of St Francis", Chicago (1982)