Cristino

Who they were

The relics of Saint Cristino, a 'holy body' (corpo santo), are kept and venerated in the church of the Confraternity of Mercy at Portoferraio. His reputation as protector spread quickly, so that in 1764 the Congregation of Rites granted his feast, on 29 April, the privileges reserved for a town's principal patrons. Devotion to him at Portoferraio goes back to the Middle Ages, attested by a church dedicated to him from the thirteenth century.

In 1661 the relic was found in the catacomb of Priscilla in Rome; a member of the Confraternity of Mercy asked Pope Alexander VII for a holy body, and the pope granted the relic to the community of Portoferraio. It arrived on 29 April, the day that became the town's patronal feast.

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

Relics of an early Roman martyr, given to Portoferraio in 1661 and honoured there since as patron, with the feast fixed for 29 April.