Genesius of Brescello

Saint Genesius was bishop of Brescello in northern Italy in the fourth century and died in 399. He is commemorated on 25 August. Little is known of him.

The only source for his life is the Revelatio beati Genesii episcopi, written in the second half of the tenth century on the occasion of the rebuilding of the small town of Brescello by Adalbert Atto, founder of the Canossa dynasty. According to this work, Genesius was ordained bishop by Saint Ambrose of Milan in 388, but the date is disputed. Ambrose sent him to Brixellum, then a flourishing Roman municipium at the confluence of the Enza and the Po, which was under the church jurisdiction of Parma.

Very little is known of his pastoral work, except that he was very active in opposing the Arian heresy and was regarded as an excellent “redeemer of souls.” Because of this, even in his own time he gained the reputation of a saint and a spiritual father of the Church.

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