Rufinus and Companions

Saint Rufinus and Companions are honored, by tradition, as the first bishop of Assisi in Italy, slain with his companions around 300. The Western calendars call him an early bishop (Episcopus Marsorum, "bishop of the Marsi"), martyred with companions in Italy. He is probably the same as Rufinus of Assisi, patron of that city.

The sources about him are a sermon of the eleventh century by Peter Damian (Miracles of Saint Rufinus the Martyr) and a Passion of the fourteenth century, whose account is purely legendary. According to the legend, he converted Assisi; he and his son came from Anatolia to preach the Gospel. The Roman proconsul Aspasius had him arrested, tortured and drowned in the river Chiascio near Costano. His body was recovered and buried at the place, where a church was built. At Assisi, in the last week of August, the Palio of Saint Rufinus is held, a historic re-⁠enactment rooted in the Middle Ages with a crossbow contest between the three districts (terzieri). He is commemorated on 11 August as a saint of the undivided Church, by the New Calendar.