Eusanius

Who they were

According to a late and legendary Passio, judged of little historical value even by early hagiographers, Eusanio was a priest of Siponto in Apulia who left the city to avoid being made bishop and set out on pilgrimage toward Rome, evangelising towns in Abruzzo and Lazio along the way. Returning to the Vestini territory, he preached at Aveia and in the Furconium area and made many converts, until he was arrested and cruelly tortured on the orders of the governor Prisco under the emperor Maximian; freed once, he resumed his mission until his final condemnation and martyrdom, traditionally dated to the early fourth century.

Though the biography is unreliable, his veneration is attested from an early date, documented as far back as an 840 diploma of Emperor Lothair. Two Italian towns still bear his name, Sant'Eusanio Forconese and Sant'Eusanio del Sangro, and his relics, found in 1748, are kept in the twelfth-century church dedicated to him.

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

Legendary priest-martyr of the Vestini region, put to death under Maximian for evangelising Abruzzo; his veneration is attested from at least the ninth century; feast 9 July.