Saint Vigilius

Vigilius was the third bishop of Trent, and he died on June 26 in the year 400 or 405. Little is known about him, and that little has to be handled with care. The contemporary sources are three letters: one by Ambrose and two by Vigilius himself. Everything else comes from the Passio, probably written in the Lombard period — that is, at least two centuries later — from oral accounts and with the religious needs of that time. The Passio says Vigilius died a martyr in the Val Rendena, stoned while he was knocking down a statue of Saturn. Historians have their doubts, though: the writers of the early fifth century — Maximus, Gaudentius, Augustine, Paulinus — speak explicitly of the martyrdom of the three saints of Anaunia, and say nothing of the kind about Vigilius. The same goes for the Hieronymian Martyrology. Those three — Sisinnius, Martyrius and Alexander — were missionaries Vigilius had sent to the Val di Non, where they were killed in 397. It was he who gathered their bodies and wrote to Ambrose and John Chrysostom to tell them what had happened: those letters are among the most important documents we have on the Christianization of the Alps. He is the patron saint of Trent and of Trentino, and on June 26 the city celebrates him with the Feste Vigiliane. If your name is Vigilio, today is your name day.