St Sabinus
(7th December)
The legend of St Sabinus seems to have been compiled in the 5th or early 6th century. It relates that Venustianus, Governor
of Tuscany arrested a bishop, St Sabinus at Assisi in 303 and ordered him to adore an idol. When he dashed it to the ground, his hands were cut off and
he was forced to watch as his deacons, SS Esuperanzius and Marcellus
were tortured and killed. St Sabinus survived and soon after
cured the blind son (or perhaps the nephew) of the widow Serena.
Venustianus also suffered from a sight disorder, so he sent for St
Sabinus. When he and his family agreed to be baptised, he was cured. The
Emperor then sent another legate, Lucius who ordered SS Sabinus and
Venustianus to Spoleto, where both were martyred. The widow Serena
buried St Sabino's severed hands and the beaten body in the cemetery north of spoleto that is now the site of the church of San Sabino.
The Lombards adopted the cult of St Sabinus in the 6th century. According to Paul the Deacon (Book 4, chapter 16), he appeared to Ariulf,
Duke of Spoleto during his battle against the Byzantines at Camerino in
598 and fought bravely beside him. Only later did Ariulf recognise the
saint from his image in the church in which his relics were housed.
From this account we learn that Christian soldiers "were wont to invoke
[St Sabinus] to their aid as often as they went to war".
The
cult of St Sabinus spread throughout central Italy, probably under Lombard influence:
- St Sabinus is venerated at Assisi as an early bishop of that city. The earliest legend does indeed say he was a bishop and that he was arrested at Assisi: however, the earliest documents that describe him as Bishop of Assisi date to the 15th century and were written in Fisignano (see below).
- St Sabinus is also one of four early martyrs venerated at Spoleto. In 598, Pope Gregory I asked Bishop Chrysanthus of Spoleto to send relics of the saint for use in an oratory in his honour that was being built in Fermo. He also arranged for other relics to be sent to Ascoli and Rieti.
- Paul the Deacon (Book 6, chapter 58) described how the cult reached Pavia.
Early in the 8th century, the Lombard King Aribert exiled Peter, the
father of the future King Liutprand
to Spoleto. As Peter prayed in San Sabino, St
Sabinus appeared to him and told him that he would become Bishop of
Pavia. When Liutprand came to the throne in 712, Peter duly became
Bishop of Pavia and built a church dedicated to St Sabinus in his
diocese.
During a visit to Italy in 970, Bishop Theoderic I of Metz, the cousin and advisor of the Emperor Otto I
acquired Serena's remains from San Sabino and took them back to
Metz. These remains and the supposed relics of St Sabinus himself
turned up at the Premonstratensian monastery of Windberg (near
Regensburg) in the late 12th century. (Serena is regarded as a saint
there).
Duke Alberic I may have taken relics to
Rome: a reliquary is recorded at what is now Santa Maria del Priorato
on the Aventine Hill, Rome, a complex founded by his son, Alberic II in
939.
In 954, Conrad, son of Duke Berengar II of Ivrea was briefly Duke of Spoleto. He fled back to Ivrea to escape an epidemic, taking with him relics of St Sabinus. St Sabinus is still a patron saint of Ivrea.
A sarcophagus (5th or 6th century) that is thought to have housed a relic of St Sabinus survives in the church of San Savino in Fusignano, a small town near Faenza and Ravenna. It is not known why or when this relic was taken to Fusignano. Astorre II Manfredi, Duke of Imola and Faenza, transferred them to the cathedral of Faenza in 1448 and they are still venerated there. Documents written at the time of the translation refer St Sabinus as having been the Bishop of Assisi and to the relic in question as an arm.
[The cathedral of Siena first claimed the body of St Sabinus in 1215.]