Cataldus of Taranto

Saint Cataldus of Taranto was an Irish monk of Lismore and bishop of the city of Taranto in southern Italy in the seventh century. He is the patron of that city, and his memory falls on 10 May.

He was born in Munster and became the disciple and successor of Saint Carthage in the famous school of Lismore; in Ireland he is believed to have been consecrated a bishop. Desiring solitude, he set out on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. On his return his ship was wrecked off the Italian coast near Taranto, and the people urged him to take the governance of their church. It is told that through his prayers the city was spared plague and floods.

When his coffin was opened in the eleventh century it held a gold cross placed at his burial. The relics were enclosed in a shrine and set in the high altar of the cathedral, which is dedicated to him. The Normans of Sicily took him as patron, and his name survives in the town of Corato, in the towns called San Cataldo, and in the churches of San Cataldo in Palermo and Erice.