Warmund of Ivrea

Blessed Warmund of Ivrea (Warmondo) was bishop of the city of Ivrea in Piedmont in Italy from 965 or 968 until about 1011, when he reposed. He belonged to the noble Arborio family.

During his long episcopate he raised the honor of the city: he rebuilt the cathedral from its foundations, as an inscription on a stone in its ambulatory shows, and gave new impulse to the scriptorium, from which come the illuminated codices kept today in the Chapter Library, among them the Sacramentary of Bishop Warmund of 1002. He is remembered above all for his struggle with Arduin, marquis of Ivrea, with whom he contended over feudal rights. Emperor Otto III granted him the right to administer justice, collect taxes and raise local troops. In 997 to 999 the unrest was fierce; Warmund twice excommunicated Arduin, but in 1001 Arduin took Ivrea and Vercelli and drove out the bishops, and in 1002 he was proclaimed king of Italy. In 1004 the new emperor Henry II defeated Arduin, and Warmund regained his see.

His name was reckoned holy already in the 12th century. His relics are kept in an urn on the altar of a chapel in the Duomo of Ivrea. Pope Pius IX recognized his veneration, as blessed, on 17 September 1857, and his memory is kept on 13 November, by the Western calendar (new style).