Saint of the Day – 10 November – Saint Baudolino (c700–c740) Hermi

Saint of the Day – 10 November – Saint Baudolino (c700–c740) Hermit, Pilgrim. Mystic, Miracle-worker. Born in c700 and died in c740 of natural causes. Patronages -Alessandria, Italy, City of (proclaimed in 1786), Diocese of Alessandria, Italy, (proclaimed in 1786). Also known – Baudilio.

Baudolino lived at the time of the Lombard King Liutprand (712-744) and the oldest testimony which speaks of him is given to us by the historian Paolo Diacono, a Lombard Benedictine Monk (c720-799) practically a contemporary of the Saint.

Baudolino is called “man of wonderful sanctity,” he was a Hermit, gifted with the gift of miracles and prophecies and lived in Foro (now Villa del Foro, a Town on the bank of the Tanaro, near Alessandria). Legend has it that geese, deer and other animals would gather around him to listen to him in his hermitage, therefore, he is sometimes depicted surrounded by these animals.

Paolo Diacono, in his “Historia Langobardorum” reports, among other things, an episode as testimony to the supernatural gifts which Baudolino prossessed. During a hunting trip, an Earl, while trying to shoot a deer with his bow, missed the shot and instead hit Anfuso, the nephew of King Liutprand. The wound was serious and the King sent a messenger to Baudolino to ask the Lord for the healing of his young nephew.

In the meantime, Anfuso died and when the messenger reached Baudolino in his hermitage, before he spoke, the latter told him that he knew everything he wanted and he was sorry because he could not do anything, as the young man was already dead but he would pray for his soul.

The holy hermit died around 740 and was buried in Villa del Foro. When Alessandria was founded in 1168, the inhabitants of Villa del Foro moved there, also bringing the Relics of the Saint, who became their Patron. His patronage continued, according to tradition, when in 1174 he appeared on the City’s defence bastions, putting the Ghibelline besiegers to flight.

In 1189 a Church was built in his honour which was entrusted to the Humiliati and upon their suppression, in 1571, it passed to the Dominicans. Over time, the scant information about him, grew and increased, so that the legend of his life were gradually mixed with other decidedly fantastical information.

Furthermore, it was said that the Bishops of Tortona and Acqui, given the great popularity enjoyed by the Hermit Saint, considered him a Bishop, there was no shortage of those who defined him as bishop of Alessandria, which is why he is also depicted in bishop’s clothes.

In 1803 when the Dominican Church was closed, the Relics of the Saint were taken to the Church of St Alessandro and then, in 1810, transferred to the Cathedral and placed in a Chapel dedicated to our Saint Baudolino. There has been devotion and a vow in his honour since 1189, a vow renewed in 1599 and ratified by the Diocesan Synod of 1602. St Baudolino was proclaimed the main Patron of the City and the Diocese of Alessandria with his Feast being celebrated on 10 November.