Eusebius of Vercelli

Saint Eusebius of Vercelli was bishop of Vercelli in Piedmont, Italy, and, along with Saint Athanasius, a defender of the faith of Nicaea against Arianism. He was born in Sardinia around 283 and reposed in peace on 1 August 371, though he has been called a martyr on account of his sufferings.

After his father's martyrdom, his mother took him to Rome, where he became a lector. He became the first bishop of Vercelli, probably in the early 340s, chosen by the people for his piety, as a letter of Ambrose to the congregation of Vercelli shows. Inspired by Athanasius's Life of Saint Anthony, he founded in Vercelli a community of priests resembling a monastery.

At the council of Milan in 355 he refused to condemn Athanasius and was exiled, first to Scythopolis in Syria under the watch of the Arian bishop Patrophilus, whom he called his jailer, then to Cappadocia and lastly to the Thebaid in Upper Egypt. Two letters written by him in exile survive. There he was dragged through the streets and persecuted but never gave up the faith. When Julian came to the throne, the exiled bishops were free to return. Eusebius passed through Alexandria, where he attended Athanasius' synod of 362, which confirmed the divinity of the Holy Spirit and the orthodox doctrine of the Incarnation. On his way home he took the decisions of the synod to Antioch, hoping to reconcile the church there, but found that Lucifer of Cagliari had unilaterally consecrated a bishop. He then returned to Vercelli. He is commemorated on 2 August as a saint of the undivided Church, by the New Calendar.