Crescentius

Saint Crescentius of Bonito was a young Christian who received martyrdom, probably in the time of the emperor Diocletian, at the beginning of the fourth century. He is venerated as a holy martyr by the Catholic Church. What is known of him with certainty is only what can be drawn from the inscription found on his tomb in the cemetery of Saint Cyriaca at Rome: a marble slab with the signs of martyrdom and the text "Crescentius, who lived eleven years, his mother placed him with fear" (Crescentius qui vixit an XI mater cum metu posuit). According to this, he was a boy of eleven, executed for his faith, and his mother took care of the burial in the Roman catacomb. Many hagiographic details are, however, confused with those of Saint Crescentius of Rome.

In July 1800 the body of the young martyr was moved to the main church of Bonito (Avellino) by the Dominican Father Luigi Vincenzo Cassito, who gave it to the local archconfraternity of the Good Death. The relic, in a gilded urn, was set on the right wall of the church, and beside it the old slab from the original tomb. He is venerated as patron of the town of Montaguto, and his commemoration is on the first Sunday of August.