Benignus of Malcesine

Saint Benignus was a hermit at Malcesine, on the shore of Lake Garda in Italy, in the eighth and ninth centuries. He is commemorated on 26 July.

The veneration of him and of his fellow ascetic is kept chiefly in the town of Malcesine, on the high shore of Lake Garda, and is linked with the history of Verona and of Saint Zeno of Verona. The relics of the saints lie in the church of Saint Stephen at Malcesine, where in 1314 they were placed in a new chapel by Bishop Tebaldo.

The first historical testimonies about them go back to the ninth century. There is a church dedicated to the saints, and on the site of the hermitage where they lived between the eighth and ninth centuries stands a church dedicated to Saint Zeno.

Both historical testimonies and legends have survived about their life. Among the historical testimonies stand out the saints' relations with King Pippin of Italy, who visited them, and the translation of the relics of Saint Zeno on 21 May 807.

He lived before the separation of the Churches, and so he is venerated as a saint of the undivided Church.