ON SAINT PROVINUS, BISHOP OF COMO IN ALPINE ITALY.
AROUND THE YEAR 420.
CommentaryProvinus, Bishop of Como in Italy (Saint)
[1] Ferdinando Ughelli, in volume 5 of his Italia Sacra, establishes Saint Provinus as the second Bishop of the Church of Como, with this eulogy: "Saint Provinus, a Gaul by birth, instructed and sent by Saint Ambrose, went to Como to assist the ailing Felix; and in this office he conducted himself so piously that he was deemed worthy to be chosen by common consent to succeed the deceased Bishop, in the year 391. Episcopate, He routed the Arian heresy, which had infected the diocese of Novum Comum in great part, with the utmost vigilance and labor. He rested in the Lord in the twenty-ninth year of his most vigilant administration, on the eighth day of the month of March, death, and, illustrious for miracles, was honorably received in the church built by himself. His body was later brought into the city Translation. when in the year 1096 a serious war had broken out between the people of Como and Milan, and he was buried in the church which they now call by his name, Saint Provinus." About whom an ancient hymn sung on the feast of Saint Abundius says:
"Felix was placed first in the pontificate; After whom, with enemies subdued, Saint Provinus shone forth."
[2] So Ughelli. Ferrarius says similar things in his Catalogue of the Saints of Italy, from the Breviary of Como; and in the said hymn, in place of "with enemies subdued," he printed "with successful deeds." Inscribed in the Roman Martyrology are Saint Felix his predecessor on July 14, and his successors Amantius on April 8, and Saint Abundius on April 2. Concerning Saint Provinus, Francesco Ballarini also treats in part 2 of the Chronicle of Como, page 93, miracles, and asserts that he was buried in the church of Saint Protasius which he himself had built, at whose tomb those suffering from fever often obtained their former health through his intercession. He adds that a particle of relics is preserved in the church of Saint John de Agno, and another was placed in the church of Saint John de Solduno near Locarno. relics elsewhere. Nicolaus Brautius, Bishop of Sarsina, celebrates him on this day with this couplet:
"The joyful people of Como receive their Gallic shepherd, Through whom they were freed from a dread plague."
Ferrarius wrote that Saint Provinus preserved the city of Como from the plague of the Arian heresy — which plague Brautius seems to have meant. Ferrarius in his General Catalogue has this: "At Novum Comum in Insubria, Saint Provinus, Bishop." The city is called Comum in ancient times, and Novum Comum from its restoration, situated on Lake Larius in the Alpine territory of the Duchy of Milan.
Note* read "subduing"