Bladulphe

Who they were

Born in Ireland, Blidulfo (Bladulfo) became a disciple of Saint Columbanus and lived as a monk at Bobbio, in Emilia-Romagna, under Abbot Attala, an exemplary priest given to prayer, penance and charity to the poor. According to the Life of Columbanus, the Arian king of the Lombards, Ariovald, once met him on the road at Pavia and mocked him for not returning his greeting; Blidulfo answered that he would gladly greet him if he professed the true faith, and went on to explain the doctrine of the Trinity. The humiliated king had two men beat the monk half to death in the night, but Blidulfo, found bleeding on the ground, said he had never slept so sweetly.

The episode won popular sympathy for the monks of Bobbio and revived orthodox faith in the area; the shamed Ariovald sent to ask Blidulfo's pardon and, though remaining an Arian, no longer troubled the monks and even supported them in a later dispute with the bishop of Tortona. He died in 630 and was honoured as a saint; his relics were translated in 1482.

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

Irish-born monk of Bobbio, disciple of Saint Columbanus, remembered for confronting an Arian king and surviving a night assault unharmed; commemorated in the Roman Martyrology on 2 January.