:''There is also a beatus named Calimerius of Montechiaro (ca. 1430-1521).'' Calimerius ( it, Calimero,

Byzantine Greek Medieval Greek (also known as Middle Greek, Byzantine Greek, or Romaic) is the stage of the Greek language between the end of classical antiquity in the 5th–6th centuries and the end of the Middle Ages, conventionally dated to the Ottoman c ...

: ''Καλημέριος'') (died 280 AD) was an early

bishop of Milan The Archdiocese of Milan ( it, Arcidiocesi di Milano; la, Archidioecesis Mediolanensis) 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 ha ...

. He is honoured as a Saint 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 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

and

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or " canoni ...

churches and his feast day is on July 31.

Life

The only thing known for certain about him was that he was a bishop whose relics were conserved in the Basilica of Saint Calimerius in Milan, after his death. He was probably not a contemporary and disciple of

Pope Telesphorus Pope Telesphorus was the bishop of Rome from 126 to his death 137, during the reigns of Roman Emperors Hadrian and Antoninus Pius. He was of Greek ancestry and born in Terranova da Sibari, :it:Papa Telesforo Calabria, Italy. The Carmelites ...

(2nd century), as is often stated, but lived in the third century, with an episcopate of 270–280.

Legends

According to one version his legend, he was born to a noble

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

family, entered military service and reached the rank of officer when he was converted to Christianity by saints

Faustinus and Jovita Saints Jovita and Faustinus were said to be Christian martyrs under Hadrian. Their traditional date of death is 120. They are patron saints of Brescia. Traditional vita Tradition states that they were members of a noble family of Brescia in Lomb ...

. According to another legend, he was born in

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wit ...

, and was educated at

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. He was a disciple of

. He succeeded St. Castricianus (''San Castriziano''). He was ordained priest by Castricianus and served at the Basilica Fausta (now the church of

Saints Vitalis and Agricola Saints Vitalis and Agricola ( it, Santi Vitale e Agricola) are venerated as martyrs, who are considered to have died at Bologna about 304, during the persecution ordered by Roman Emperor Diocletian. Legend Agricola was a Christian citizen of B ...

). At the death of Castricianus, he was elected bishop. According to his legend, when he became bishop of

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard language, Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the List of cities in Italy, second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 ...

, he preached in the region and was killed during the persecutions of Christians by Commodus or

Hadrian Hadrian (; la, Caesar Trâiānus Hadriānus ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. He was born in Italica (close to modern Santiponce in Spain), a Roman '' municipium'' founded by Italic settlers in Hispan ...

, by being flung headfirst into a

well A well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources, usually water. The oldest and most common kind of well is a water well, to access groundwater in underground aquifers. T ...

Calimerius and the well

Calimerius' relics were exhumed in the eighth century by Bishop Tommaso Grassi of Milan. The urn and the relics were found submerged in water, perhaps due to the many underground channels that ran under the city. However, the fact that his relics were found this way led to the legend that Calimerius was flung into a well. In the eleventh century, the ''Datiana Historia'', written by an anonymous author, states that Calimerius was flung into a well as revenge for having baptized so many pagans. The same source includes the detail that Calimerius was a Greek raised in Rome, as well as the fact that he was a disciple of Telesphorus, although both claims may be historically doubtful. Another legend states that he was a Roman of noble origin, who, after serving in the military, was converted by Saints Faustinus and Jovita and was elected bishop of Milan. The dates on a plaque of marble in the interior of the

Cathedral of Milan Milan Cathedral ( it, Duomo di Milano ; lmo, Domm de Milan ), or Metropolitan Cathedral-Basilica of the Nativity of Saint Mary ( it, Basilica cattedrale metropolitana di Santa Maria Nascente, links=no), is the cathedral church of Milan, Lombar ...

state that his episcopate lasted from 139 to 192, but these dates, due to disputes with Rome, may have been falsified in the eleventh century in order to make the diocese of Milan appear to be more ancient than it actually was. Thus, it considered

Saint Barnabas Barnabas (; arc, ܒܪܢܒܐ; grc, Βαρνάβας), born Joseph () or Joses (), was according to tradition an early Christian, one of the prominent Christian disciples in Jerusalem. According to Acts 4:36, Barnabas was a Cypriot Jew. Name ...

of the

Apostolic Age Christianity in the 1st century covers the formative history of Christianity from the start of the ministry of Jesus (–29 AD) to the death of the last of the Twelve Apostles () and is thus also known as the Apostolic Age. Early Christiani ...

as its first bishop in order to become more independent of Rome. As

Hippolyte Delehaye Hippolyte Delehaye, S.J., (19 August 1859 – 1 April 1941) was a Belgian Jesuit who was a hagiographical scholar and an outstanding member of the Society of Bollandists. Biography Born in 1859 in Antwerp, Delehaye joined the Society of Jesu ...

writes, "To have lived amongst the Saviour's immediate following was ... honorable ... and accordingly old patrons of churches were identified with certain persons in the gospels or who were supposed to have had some part in Christ's life on earth."

, ''The Legends of the Saints'' (Dublin, Four Courts Press, 1955), 37.

Veneration

Saint Ennodius, in an

epigram An epigram is a brief, interesting, memorable, and sometimes surprising or satirical statement. The word is derived from the Greek "inscription" from "to write on, to inscribe", and the literary device has been employed for over two mille ...

, writes that the basilica of San Calimero was built in the fifth century to hold the

relics In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or the personal effects of the saint or venerated person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tang ...

of Calimerius. The waters of a well said to have been the place of his death acquired special significance. Every July 31, his feast day, the sick would drink of this water. In times of

drought A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...

, priests would put some of the miraculous water into a bottle and pour it over the fields. There are basilicas dedicated to him at

Pasturo Pasturo ( Valassinese lmo, Pastür) is a '' comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Lecco in the Italian region Lombardy, located about northeast of Milan and about north of Lecco. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 1,798 and ...

and the Santuario della Madonna di San Calimero is located in Bolladello di Cairate. Image:San Calimero2.jpg, Sanctuary of San Calimero at Bolladello di Cairate Image:IMG 5585 - Milano - San Calimero - Mosaico - Foto Giovanni Dall'Orto - 21 febr. 2007.jpg, 19th century mosaic of Calimerius Image:0273 - Milano - San Calimero - Cripta - Il pozzo di S. Calimero - Foto Giovanni Dall'Orto 5-May-2007.jpg, The purported well in which Calimerius is said to have been thrown. The water of this well was considered miraculous. Crypt of San Calimero.

References

External links

St. Calimerius

San Calimero e i rimedi contro la siccità
{{DEFAULTSORT:Calimerius 01 Of Milan, Archbishop 3rd-century Christian martyrs Archbishops of Milan 280s deaths Year of birth unknown