Anianus of Asti

Saint Anianus of Asti, hierarch, was bishop of Asti in Piedmont in the fifth century and is venerated as a saint by all the Churches that accept the veneration of saints. He is commemorated on 16 November. Little is known for certain about his life, and historians do not agree. Perhaps he lived in the fifth century; no biographical data survive. In the Libera nos of the missal of the Benedictine abbey of Azzano, in the litany listing the group of "confessors", Anianus is placed first, before the bishops Saint Ambrose and Saint Syrus (of the fourth century), which suggests that he lived in the same period. He is expressly named bishop and "confessor". The calendar-⁠necrologies of the chapter archive place him on 17 November and also recall, on 14 July, a translation of him, probably the first moving of his body, at first placed in the crypt of Saint John under the cathedral. The body was moved, probably in the ninth century, to a church near the "Old Castle". In the eleventh century the Processional of the cathedral of Asti showed that his body was kept in that church. In 1024 Bishop Alrico established there a collegiate church of four canons, who "shall forever serve God and the most blessed Anianus".