Ecclesius of Ravenna

Saint Ecclesius of Ravenna was bishop of Ravenna in Italy from 521 until his repose in 532, and he is best known as the founder of the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna.

In 525 he was one of the bishops who accompanied Pope John I when Theodoric the Great sent him to Constantinople to oppose the edict of the emperor Justin I against Arianism. On his return he came into conflict with a group of local priests, who complained to Pope Felix IV; Felix instead rebuked the dissenting clergy and reaffirmed Ecclesius's authority in a letter preserved by the historian Andreas Agnellus. After his return from the East he began the construction of the famous Basilica of San Vitale with the support of Julian the Banker (Julius Argentarius), and about the same time the church of Santa Maria Maggiore. A mosaic of him still stands in San Vitale. He is commemorated on 27 July as a saint of the undivided Church, by the New Calendar.