ON ST. GAUDIOSUS, BISHOP OF BRESCIA IN ITALY.
AROUND THE YEAR 445.
CommentaryGaudiosus, Bishop of Brescia in Italy (St.)
[1] Among the Bishops of Brescia enrolled among the Saints, the third in this month of March is St. Gaudiosus, by some called Gaudentius, also inscribed in the Tables of the Roman Martyrology on the Nones of March in these words: At Brescia, of St. Gaudiosus, Bishop and Confessor. Galesinius has the same. But Ferrari in his Catalogue of the Saints of Italy writes thus: Gaudiosus, Bishop of Brescia, held the Episcopal Chair between St. Silvinus and Optatianus, the sixth from St. Philastrius, Sacred cult: and the thirteenth from Anathalo, the first Bishop of Brescia, in a praiseworthy manner. Although his deeds do not survive on account of the frequent devastations of the city, his reputation for holiness has endured. His body, in the basilica of St. Alexander the Martyr, burial: which the Servite Friars hold, is entombed in a marble sarcophagus, as the inscription itself indicates. So Ferrari, himself a Servite. The inscription has been published by Ughelli in volume 4 of Sacred Italy in these words:
Inscription: To the divine Gaudiosus, Bishop of Brescia, Saloffius Ferrarolus, Knight of the Golden Spur, most celebrated Doctor of Pontifical and Civil Law, dedicated this monument 1488.
Also inscribed in the Roman Martyrology are his predecessor Silvinus on September 20 and his successor Optatianus on July 14, the last of whom lived in the times of the Emperor Valentinian III and Pope St. Leo, and in the year 450 attended the Synod of Milan, time of his tenure: celebrated by St. Eusebius, Bishop of Milan, and subscribed to the synodal letter to the same St. Leo. From this the time when St. Gaudiosus presided over the Church of Brescia can be established; to whose See Ughelli assigns thirteen years. Bishop Rampertus also mentions him in his sermon On the Translation of St. Philastrius at July 18, and Elias Capreolus in book 3 of the History of Brescia. In the Martyrology of the Church of Brescia the following is customarily read: On the Nones of March, at Brescia, of St. Gaudiosus, Bishop and Confessor, a man of admirable holiness. His precious body is preserved in the church of St. Alexander.