John of Bergamo

Holy Hierarch John of Bergamo was bishop of the city of Bergamo in northern Italy and reposed as a martyr in the year 688. He is the first bishop of Bergamo of whom written testimony survives.

He shepherded the Church in the time of the struggle against Monothelitism: he took part in the council convoked at Milan by Pope Agatho in 679, and his signature is the 54th under the confession of faith. Paul the Deacon mentions him as a man of marvelous holiness (vir mirae sanctitatis). He is thought to have labored for the Christianization of the Lombards and to have restored the old cathedral of Saint Vincent to true worship, as imperial decrees show. His correspondence with the Lombard king Cunipert on theological and practical matters also survives. He suffered in the time of the revolt raised by Alahis; his relics were found in 1291, during the rebuilding of the cathedral of Saint Alexander at Bergamo. He is commemorated on 15 January, by the Western calendar (new style), as a saint of the undivided Church.