There are numerous saints whose name was Aemilius, especially if we also count Aemilianus and Gemilianus, variations of Aemilius. This St. Aemilius may be one of the four Sardinian martyrs who, together with Felix, Primus and Felician, are commemorated in the Martyrologium Hieronymianum. In Sardinia he is venerated at Villanova Truschedu, Bosa (with St. Primus), Muravera and Gonnosnò, as well as at Sestu. However, tradition points to another Aemilius, Bishop of Beneventum who, while included in the early lists of bishops, is put in question because these lists are not considered to be reliable by scholars. However, there is one historical fact: he was a member of the commission that Pope Innocent II sent to Constantinople, the capital of the Eastern Empire, in 405 to support the cause of a sophisticated theologian and master of dialectics like John Crysostom (“golden mouthed”) who was trying to moralise the Byzantine court, which was particularly disposed to luxury. Also mentioned by Paulinus of Nola in the Epithalamium in Julianum,as a “man of extraordinary genius”, there is no further trace of him, and he seems to disappear from the diocese of Beneventum. The young man portrayed on the Spire has only one symbol, a libellum, a document which may be related to the diplomatic activity of the Bishop of Beneventum or to the testimony of the Sardinian martyr. In both cases, St. Aemilius appears as a much venerated saint and a bishop who was held in very great consideration by the pope to carry out a very delicate enterprise: that of taking part in the slow process of separation between the Western and Eastern churches, two worlds that were already separated politically and that, from the Middle Ages onwards, would continue their history along parallel paths.
ST. AEMILIUS
Patron Saint: City of Villanova Truschedu, Cities of Bosa (with St. Priam), Muravera and Gonnosnò Symbol: Pastoral staff