Sabinus of Spoleto explained

Honorific Prefix:Saint
Sabinus
Birth Date:3rd century AD
Death Date:c. 303 AD
Feast Day:30 December in both Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches
Venerated In:Catholicism
Eastern Orthodoxy
Death Place:Spoletium, Roman Umbria (modern-day Spoleto, Umbria, Italy)
Titles:Bishop and Martyr
Canonized Date:Pre-congregation

Sabinus of Spoleto (died c. 303) was a bishop in the early Christian church who resisted the Diocletianic Persecution and was martyred.

Traditional narrative

According to legend, Venustian, governor of Etruria and Umbria, had Sabinus and his deacons arrested in Assisi. Diocletian's order required all Christians to sacrifice to the Roman gods or be put to death; their estates were then to be seized for the state.

Venustian mocked Sabinus's faith, accusing him of leading the people to the worship of a dead man. When Sabinus said that Christ rose on the third day, Venustian invited him to do the same thing. The deacons were in great fear, but Sabinus encouraged them to hold to their faith, and they died after being torn apart by iron hooks. Venustian had Sabinus's hands cut off.

In prison after the martyrdom of his deacons, he was tended by a woman named Serena. While in prison, he healed a man born blind. Venustian heard of the cure and sought a cure for his own eyes from Sabinus. Sabinus healed the governor and converted him to Christianity. Venustian then sheltered Sabinus. Maximianus Herculius, hearing of this, ordered the tribune Lucius to address the matter. Lucius had Venustian, his wife, and his two sons beheaded at Assisi, and he had Sabinus beaten to death at Spoleto.

Veneration

Sabinus's feast day is 30 December in the Eastern Orthodox Church and in the Roman Martyrology of the Catholic Church.[1] [2]

He is depicted in the Maestà of Duccio.

The church of San Sabino, dedicated to the saint, is outside Spoleto.

Other saints of the name

The Roman Martyrology lists six saints called Sabinus, three of whom were bishops. The other two are Sabinus of Canosa (died ; feast day, 9 February) and Sabinus of Piacenza (died late 4th century; feast day, 11 December).

Bibliography

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Martyrologium Romanum . 2004 . Typis Vaticanis . Città del Vaticano . 88-209-7210-7 . Editio typica.
  2. See: