Sabinus of Spoleto

The Holy Hieromartyr Sabinus of Spoleto was bishop of Spoleto, in Italy, who resisted the persecution of Diocletian and was martyred around 303. His feast is on 7 December (in the Orthodox Church and the Roman Martyrology, according to another source, on 30 December).

Martyrdom

According to tradition, he lived in the time of the emperor Diocletian and was one of the first victims of his persecution. Before becoming bishop, he laboured for the baptism of pagans in Umbria; he also preached at Assisi, then devoted himself to the hermit's life. Venustian, governor of Etruria and Umbria, arrested Sabinus at Assisi, with his deacons Exuperantius and Marcellus. Diocletian's order required all Christians to sacrifice to the Roman gods or be put to death, and their estates were to be seized by the state.

Venustian mocked Sabinus's faith, accusing him of leading the people to the worship of a dead man. When Sabinus said that Christ rose on the third day, Venustian invited him to do the same; to "help" him, he ordered his hands cut off. The deacons were in great fear, but Sabinus encouraged them to hold to their faith, and they died torn apart by iron hooks.

In prison, after the martyrdom of his deacons, a woman named Serena tended him. While in prison he healed a man born blind. Venustian heard of the cure and sought a remedy for his own eyes from Sabinus. Sabinus healed the governor and converted him to Christianity; Venustian then sheltered Sabinus. Hearing of it, Maximianus Herculius ordered the tribune Lucius to deal with the matter. Lucius had Venustian, his wife and their two sons beheaded at Assisi, and had Sabinus beaten to death at Spoleto.

Veneration

Sabinus is depicted in the Maesta of Duccio, of 1308-1311. The church of San Sabino, dedicated to him, stands outside Spoleto. He is patron of the city of Ivrea in Piedmont (7 July), of the town of Monselice in Veneto (2 November), of the village of Monte San Savino in Tuscany (7 December, with Saint Giles) and of the city of Fermo in Marche (16 August, with the Virgin Mary). The tradition that he lived in the territory of the diocese of Faenza and was its first bishop is the result of a mistake by Giovanni Antonio Flaminio, a writer of Faenza of the sixteenth century. The Roman Martyrology lists six saints named Sabinus, three of them bishops, among them Sabinus of Canosa (9 February) and Sabinus of Piacenza (11 December).