Vigilius of Trent
bishop, martyr and saint
Vigilius of Trent (Italian: San Vigilio di Trento; German: Vigilius von Trient; c. 353 – 26 June 405) is venerated as the patron saint and bishop of Trent.
Life
According to tradition, he was a Roman patrician, the son of Maxentia and a man whose name is sometimes given as Theodosius. His brothers, Claudian and Magorian, are also venerated as saints. Vigilius was educated at Athens and seems to have been a friend of John Chrysostom.
In 380, Vigilius settled in the city of Trent and was chosen as the city's bishop. He may have been consecrated by either Ambrose of Milan or Valerian (Valerianus) of Aquileia. Ambrose donated the episcopal insignia and showed a paternal solicitude for Vigilius. As bishop, Vigilius attempted to convert Arians and pagans to Nicene Christianity and is said to have founded thirty parishes in his diocese. He is traditionally regarded as the founder of the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Trent. A letter attributed to Ambrose encourages Vigilius to oppose marriages between Christians and pagans.
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This entry incorporates text from “Vigilius of Trent” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.