Baudolino

Saint Baudolino (about 700-740) was a hermit who lived in the time of the Lombard king Liutprand at Forum Fulvii (today Villa del Foro), on the lower course of the river Tanaro, in north-⁠western Italy. He is the patron of the city of Alessandria and is venerated in the Roman Catholic Church, and our sources show no Orthodox act of canonization. He is commemorated on the first Sunday after 10 November.

Life

He is said to have come from a noble family, but gave his wealth to the poor and moved to a miserable hut near the river. The first mention of him is in the History of the Lombards by Paul the Deacon, written some forty years after his death, where he is described as a man of wonderful holiness, known for many miracles, endowed with the gift of clairvoyance and prophecy. One miracle is told: while Liutprand was hunting in the forest near Forum, his nephew Aufusus was accidentally struck by an arrow, and the king sent a messenger to Baudolino to pray for the boy's life. The messenger received the answer: I know why you have come, but what you were sent to ask can no longer be done, for the boy is dead. Aufusus had indeed died, and the king understood that Baudolino had the spirit of prophecy. He died around 740 and was buried at Forum Fulvii.

Relics and legend

Four centuries later, in 1168, the city of Alessandria was founded as a bastion of the Lombard League against the Holy Roman Empire. The people of Forum were moved to the new city and brought with them the saint's relics. In 1174, according to tradition, he appeared on the walls of the city and put to flight the imperial army besieging it. In 1189 a church was built in his honour, in the time of the Humiliati order. Their monks and the Dominicans who replaced them in 1571 enlarged the scanty news of his life and spread anachronistic beliefs, among them that he belonged to the Humiliati and was archbishop of Alessandria. In 1786 he was proclaimed principal patron of the city and diocese of Alessandria. After the closure of the church, in 1803, the relics were moved to the church of Sant'Alessandro and in 1810 to a chapel in the new cathedral. He is depicted in the vestments of a bishop, surrounded by geese, deer and other animals which, according to the legend, listened gladly to the hermit's preaching. In 2000 Umberto Eco, born in Alessandria, published the novel Baudolino.