Benedict (, ) was

Archbishop of Milan The Archdiocese of Milan (; ) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Italy which covers the areas of Milan, Monza, Lecco and Varese. It has long maintained its own Latin liturgical rite usage, the Amb ...

from . He is honoured as a

saint In Christianity, Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of sanctification in Christianity, holiness, imitation of God, likeness, or closeness to God in Christianity, God. However, the use of the ...

in the

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

and

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, officially the Orthodox Catholic Church, and also called the Greek Orthodox Church or simply the Orthodox Church, is List of Christian denominations by number of members, one of the three major doctrinal and ...

es.

Life

Benedict was archbishop of Milan from until his death in March 732. Among the sparse information about his life, it is known that he wrote the

epitaph An epitaph (; ) is a short text honoring a deceased person. Strictly speaking, it refers to text that is inscribed on a tombstone or plaque, but it may also be used in a figurative sense. Some epitaphs are specified by the person themselves be ...

for Caedwalla, the

king of Wessex This is a list of monarchs of the Kingdom of the West Saxons (Wessex) until 886 AD. While the details of the later monarchs are confirmed by a number of sources, the earlier ones are in many cases obscure. The names are given in modern English f ...

who was buried in

St. Peter's Basilica The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican (), or simply St. Peter's Basilica (; ), is a church of the Italian High Renaissance located in Vatican City, an independent microstate enclaved within the city of Rome, Italy. It was initiall ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

. Benedict returned in Rome at the time of

Pope Constantine Pope Constantine (; 6649 April 715) was the bishop of Rome from 25 March 708 to his death on 9 April 715. One of the last popes of the Byzantine Papacy, the defining moment of his pontificate was his 710/711 visit to Constantinople, where he com ...

where he opposed the claim of the bishop of Pavia, Armentarius, that Pavia was immediately subject to Rome. Benedict reminded the Pope that Pavia historically was under the

Metropolitan See Metropolitan may refer to: Areas and governance (secular and ecclesiastical) * Metropolitan archdiocese, the jurisdiction of a metropolitan archbishop ** Metropolitan bishop or archbishop, leader of an ecclesiastical "mother see" * Metropolitan ...

of Milan and that the bishop of Pavia was used to be consecrated by the one of Milan. The pope, however, ruled in favour of Armentarius, perhaps due to a privilege granted at the time of

Evodius Evodius (, ''Euōdias''; ) was an early Christian identified by some Christian writings as the first bishop of Antioch. In some traditions, he is seen as succeeding Peter. He is regarded as one of the first identifiable post-apostolic Christia ...

or because Pavia was the capital of the

Kingdom of the Lombards The Kingdom of the Lombards, also known as the Lombard Kingdom and later as the Kingdom of all Italy (), was an Early Middle Ages, early medieval state established by the Lombards, a Germanic people, on the Italian Peninsula in the latter part ...

. Benedict was responsible for the construction of a church and a monastery in Milan, of which no trace remains. He probably was influential in settling the

Schism of the Three Chapters The Schism of the Three Chapters was a schism that affected Chalcedonian Christianity in Northern Italy lasting from 553 to 698 AD and in some areas to 715 AD, although the area out of communion with Rome contracted during that time. It was part of ...

Paul the Deacon Paul the Deacon ( 720s 13 April in 796, 797, 798, or 799 AD), also known as ''Paulus Diaconus'', ''Warnefridus'', ''Barnefridus'', or ''Winfridus'', and sometimes suffixed ''Cassinensis'' (''i.e.'' "of Monte Cassino"), was a Benedictine monk, sc ...

, about fifty years after his death, remembered him as a saint venerated all over Italy. The day of his death was between 9 and 11 March 732. A poem written about ten years after his death, , praises him and informs us that he was buried in the

Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio The Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio, officially known as ''Basilica romana minore collegiata abbaziale prepositurale di Sant'Ambrogio'', is an ancient Romanesque-style, Roman Catholic church located in the center of Milan, in the region of Lombardy, ...

. His feast day is 11 March in the

and in the

Roman Rite The Roman Rite () is the most common ritual family for performing the ecclesiastical services of the Latin Church, the largest of the ''sui iuris'' particular churches that comprise the Catholic Church. The Roman Rite governs Rite (Christianity) ...

; it is 6 September in the

Ambrosian Rite The Ambrosian Rite () is a Latin liturgical rites, Latin liturgical rite of the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church (specifically The Divine Liturgy of Saint Ambrose). The ritual family, rite is named after Ambrose, Saint Ambrose, a b ...

. A late tradition, with no historical basis, associates Benedict with the Milan's family of the Crespi.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Benedict Of Milan, Archbishop Medieval Italian saints Archbishops of Milan 7th-century archbishops 8th-century archbishops 732 deaths 8th-century Christian saints Year of birth unknown