Lanno

Saint Lanno (also called Lando), martyr, was a Roman soldier of German origin and died a martyr around the year 296 at Vasanello in Italy. He is commemorated on 5 May and is the patron of the town of Vasanello.

According to tradition, Lanno was of Germanic stock. As a man of noble birth, he entered the army in his teens. He is said to have been born into a noble family somewhere in the region of Cologne. He was sent to the Italian Peninsula, where he found the Christian faith. While at Falerii, on the Via Flaminia not far from Rome, he baptized in a cave his spiritual brothers, Saints Valentine, Rotilius, Hilary and Florentius, his friend Gratilian, and Saint Felicissima.

Because he refused to offer pagan sacrifice and to renounce the faith, he was beheaded at Vasanello (Castrum Bassanelli). In the 800s a hymn was composed in his honour. He is usually shown as a horseman with a banner bearing a cross.