Saint of the Day – 12 August – St Eusebius of Milan (Died 462) Bishop

Saint of the Day – 12 August – St Eusebius of Milan (Died 462) Archbishop of Milan – Born in Greece (although some sources regard him as Milanese) and died on 12 August 462. He was the Archbishop from 449 until his death.

The Roman Martyrology reads: “In Milan, Saint Eusebius, Bishop, who worked diligently for the True Faith and rebuilt the Cathedral destroyed by the Huns.”

Eusebius succeeded Lazarus in the Episcopal chair of Milan shortly before 449. He participated in the Council convened in Rome in October 449 by Pope Leo the Great, to examine and condemn, the Terror of Eutyches regarding the Mystery of the Incarnation. The condemnation of Eutyches’ errors was communicated to the Imperial Court of Constantinople by a Papal embassy, ​​which also included two Ecclesiastics from the Ecclesiastical Province of Milan, namely Bishop Abbondio of Como and the Priest Senator of Milan.

Advised by the Pope of the happy outcome of the embassy to the Imperial Court in Constantinople, Eusebius convened a Provincial Council of Bishops in Milan, who, through him, in the autumn of 451, sent the Pope a formula of Catholic Faith.

Eusebius’ great charity shone in a painful circumstance for Milan. In 452 Attila and the Huns descended on Italy, thirsty for revenge and blood – having destroyed many Cities in the Veneto (a northeastern Italian region stretching from the Dolomite Mountains to the Adriatic Sea. Venice, is its regional Capital). Attila took possession of Milan where his barbarian hordes indulged in violence and looting of all kinds. The City was destroyed, the Cathedral set on fire. Once the storm had passed, Eusebius set about repairing the ruins of the City and rescuing the starving citizens. He rebuilt the Cathedral and it is said that he instituted, in perpetual memory of the fact, the Feast of the Dedication, to be celebrated on the third Sunday of October. This Feast is still celebrated today but few remember the original intention – it is now celebrated as a reminder of the Dedication of the Cathedral by Saint Charles Borromeo. On that occasion, a Bishop, whose name has not survived, gave an official speech.

In the Ambrosian Breviary we read that Eusebius, while still a Deacon, broke the glass Chalice used in the Mas, however, having resorted to the intercession of Saint Lawrence, the Chalice miraculously reassembled.

Eusebius’ death seems to have occurred in August 462. The Saint was buried in the Milanese Basilica of St Lawrence. The oldest catalogues of the Bishops of Milan mention St Eusebius’ death on 8 August, the most recent on 9 August. The Liber Notitiae Sanctorum Mediolani, of the beginning of the 14th Century, commemorates St Eusebius on 12 August, a date later passed into the Ambrosian calendar and into the Roman Martyrology.