Nico

ON ST. NICO, HERMIT,

OF BESUTIUM IN THE TERRITORY OF MILAN.

Nico, Hermit of Besutium, in the territory of Milan (S.)

G. H.

Nico, a hermit at Besutium, a town of the territory of Milan, forty miles distant from Milan, led a solitary life. Eulogy from Ferrarius, And when he had paid the debt of all flesh, and shone forth with miracles, he was honorably buried in that town and began to be venerated. His body was translated by St. Charles Borromeo, Cardinal Priest of the title of St. Praxedes and Archbishop of Milan, in the year of the Lord's Incarnation 1566, and placed in its own chapel, there established by the Sodality called of Penance. His feast day is celebrated at Besutium on the 14th day before the Kalends of May. Thus from the monuments of the Church of Besutium Ferrarius in his Catalogue of the Saints of Italy, and in fewer words in the General Catalogue, citing the Life of St. Charles Borromeo, which is to be illustrated on November 4. Further in that one, which John Peter Giussanus wrote, book 2 chapter 11, St. Charles is said to have with great diligence sought and found the body, and the Life of St. Charles Borromeo. reduced to dust and ashes under the earth, placed in a stone sarcophagus: to have reverently collected the sacred ashes, and placed on another altar decently, to have enclosed them in the altar of the same oratory, adorned for this purpose; and from the concourse of men, the oratory itself to have been enlarged into a sufficiently spacious church. Bishop Brautius has these things about him in his Poetic Martyrology:

"Nico, unknown formerly, hid in the desert: Whose name and honor now everywhere flourishes."

If anyone can teach us more about the Life, Miracles and ancient Cult, from the monuments of the Church of Besutium or from the constant tradition of the inhabitants, he will suggest desired material for a supplement to be made afterwards.