Avendrace

Saint Avendrace was, according to tradition, the first bishop of Cagliari in Sardinia, in the first century, and died in the year 77. He was born in Ippis, a village on the site of present-⁠day Serramanna.

According to the hagiographic tradition, after he was condemned for being a Christian, he hid in a cave not far from the Santa Gilla pond at Cagliari. After two years spent there, he came out to make a pastoral visit to the villages of his diocese. Discovered and seized, he escaped and hid in the mountains. Then, after the appearance of an angel, Avendrace returned to his first refuge at Santa Gilla.

Tradition says that every day a raven brought him food. After his death, probably from illness, he was buried in the same place where he had hidden. Later a church dedicated to him was built over it.

The sources at hand do not give the day of his commemoration. The account is a local tradition and not sure history. He lived before the separation of the Churches, and so he is venerated as a saint of the undivided Church.