Adalberto da Como

Who they were

The fifteenth bishop of Como, active between the seventh and eighth centuries, Adalbert is the subject of a story weaving together fact and legend. The scant historical evidence shows a zealous bishop devoted to the care of his people, while legend celebrates his heroic virtues and miraculous powers; his episcopate probably falls in the third or fourth decade of the seventh century, and his name appears in the episcopal lists after Saint Rubiano, successor of Saint Agrippino.

Legend tells that, falsely accused of immorality, Adalbert went to Rome to clear his name and worked wonders in the pope's presence, foretelling that his own death would follow soon after he restored the pope's sight; when the pope was healed, he is said to have travelled to Como to attend Adalbert on his deathbed and at his funeral.

The miracles

There was never a formal cause: he has been honoured as a saint since before the Church's formal processes began.

Why that counted as sanctity

Seventh-century bishop of Como credited in legend with restoring a pope's sight in Rome after being falsely accused of immorality.