Saint Zeno of Verona

He was a native of Verona, in Italy, and had retired to a monastery located in the most secluded part of the city; there, through continual fasts and prayers, he often asked God for the grace and talent of preaching, so that he might be able to convert the idolaters and exhort everyone to penance and the love of Jesus Christ. Having been elected bishop, he discharged this ministry worthily and with success; he drew many souls from the darkness of idolatry and sin, and won great victories over the enemy of the human race.

The most striking of all was when he delivered the daughter of Emperor Gallienus l'empereur Gallien Roman emperor associated with the reign of Valerian. ; the demon tormented her with such violence that she seemed on the point of being suffocated. One day, when she was more tormented than usual, she cried out with all her might that she could only be relieved by Bishop Zeno, and the demon, who spoke through her mouth, also confessed that he would only leave her by the command of the Saint. The emperor, although one of the most notorious persecutors of Christians, forgot for the moment the hatred he had conceived against them; and, touched by his daughter's misfortune, he immediately sent for Zeno, who undertook this cure for the greater glory of God. Scarcely had he arrived at the palace and entered the room of the possessed girl, than the demon began to let out a frightful cry, saying: 'Zeno, you have come to drive me out, and I can no longer remain here in the presence of your holiness, which terrifies me.' The Saint, having heard these words, took the hand of the princess, and, addressing this proud spirit, said to him: 'In the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ, I command you to leave this young girl and to come out of her body.' The demon immediately obeyed this order; but he said to him: 'Since I am driven from here by your power, I am going to Verona, and you will find me there upon your return.' The emperor, when he saw his daughter delivered, did not know how to show his gratitude to the holy Bishop: he took the royal crown from his own head and placed it on that of the Saint, saying these words to him: 'I cannot make a worthier gift to the salutary physician who has healed my daughter than by presenting him with the crown that I wear.' The people, who had flocked to the palace, seeing such an evident miracle, renounced paganism and begged the Saint to instruct them in the ways of salvation and to give them holy Baptism: which he did, after having distributed to the poor the price of the crown he had received from Gallienus. He also asked this prince for permission to build churches in honor of the true God: which the emperor granted him with good grace. Perhaps this miracle of Saint Zeno was the cause of the edict he later made in favor of the Christians, in the eighth year of his empire; he ordered all those who occupied places belonging to the Christians to return them to them as soon as possible: which allowed them to re-enter into the possession and enjoyment of their cemeteries.

Then Zeno returned to his diocese, and, using the permission he had obtained from the emperor, he had churches built there, converted many infidels to the Christian religion, and continued his care for his flock until the end of his life, which he concluded happily on April 12 of the year 380, according to the best critics; around the year 260, according to Baroniu Baronius Cardinal and hagiographer who fixed the feast day on October 8. s.

The multitude of miracles that God performed thereafter at the tomb of Saint Zeno led the Veronese to build a beautiful church in his name. Some authors say that a princess of the family of Gallien had it built at her own expense on the banks of the Adige, called by the ancients Athesis: Sain t Gregory, alo saint Grégoire Pope who reported the miracle of the flooding of the Adige. ng with the historians who have written about Saint Zeno, reports this famous prodigy: "One day when the clergy and the people of Verona had gathered to celebrate the feast of their holy Bishop in the church dedicated to him, the Adige overflowed so much that it carried its waters up to this temple, and although the door was open, the water nevertheless dared not enter; but, rising to the windows, it threatened the clergy and the people with inevitable death: because, being raised on all sides in the form of a wall, it prevented them from leaving. However, by an extraordinary wonder, this water, thus raised like a wall, became liquid to quench the thirst of those who were locked in the church, and stood firm to preserve this place consecrated to Saint Zeno; so that, adds Saint Gregory, it could be taken as water, but it could not flow like water: for, stopping before the door, to make known to everyone the merit of the Saint, it was water to relieve the faithful, and it seemed not to be water to enter the church, for fear of damaging it." This great Pope, admiring this miracle, concludes his narration by comparing it to that of the fire of the furnace of Babylon, which burned without touching the three children whom Nebuchadnezzar had had thrown into it, because they worshipped the true God.

Saint Zeno is characterized in different ways: here are the main ones:

1° Not far from him, a demon falls into the water. It is said that at the age of thirteen or fourteen, while accompanying his bishop, whose clerk he was, in the street one day, he suddenly burst into laughter. The prelate was all the more astonished as young Zeno was already commendable for his gravity. Having asked him what caused his hilarity, the child replied that he had just seen a little devil sleeping peacefully on the train of a lady's dress who was walking in front of them; but that this lady, having pulled up her skirt with a very feminine quickness, the devil had fallen into the muddy water of the stream, at which he made a pitiful face; 2° Saint Zeno fishes in the Adige t o provi l'Adige River flowing through Verona, the site of a famous miracle. de for his subsistence. Perhaps this is only an application of the word of the Gospel: "You will be fishers of men."

Saint Zeno is the second patron of V erona; Vérone City of birth and foundation of the order of Fazzio. Ou r Lady is Notre-Dame Principal patroness of the city of Verona. the principal patroness.