Genesio di Brescello

Who they were

Saint Genesius was bishop of the ancient diocese of Brescello, near Reggio Emilia, at a time when the Western Roman Empire was in decline. Almost nothing is recorded of his family or early life, but tradition places the start of his episcopate in 388, making him probably the first bishop of Brescello, a post he held for about eleven years, building up the young Christian community, defending Nicene orthodoxy against Arianism, and caring for the poor.

He died at Brescello in 399. His tomb became a place of pilgrimage, and his veneration survived the later suppression of the diocese itself, becoming a symbol of the powerful Canossa family, who rebuilt his monastery around 970. His feast is kept on 25 August, and his relics are still venerated in the parish church of Santa Maria Nascente e San Genesio at Brescello.

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

First bishop of Brescello and defender of Nicene orthodoxy; feast 25 August.