Saint Ceccardus of Luni (died 860), otherwise San Ceccardo, was a
bishop of Luni
The Diocese of La Spezia-Sarzana-Brugnato () is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church in Liguria, northern Italy, created in 1929. It is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Genoa.
The historic diocese of Luni (earlier Luna) was united to the Di ...
in
Liguria
Liguria (; ; , ) is a Regions of Italy, region of north-western Italy; its Capital city, capital is Genoa. Its territory is crossed by the Alps and the Apennine Mountains, Apennines Mountain chain, mountain range and is roughly coextensive with ...
, Italy, who was believed to have been killed by
Viking
Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden),
who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9â ...
pirates, probably in 860 when they sacked the city of
Luni.
He was declared a martyr and later became the patron saint of
Carrara
Carrara ( ; ; , ) is a town and ''comune'' in Tuscany, in central Italy, of the province of Massa and Carrara, and notable for the white or blue-grey Carrara marble, marble quarried there. It is on the Carrione River, some Boxing the compass, ...
. His feast day is 16 June.
Life
He drew up a brief commemoration of the episcopate of Petroaldo (816?-826?); in this document, as a cleric, he signs himself as Sicheradus Silitraldi. The name indicates his probable origin from a Byzantine family.
Ceccardo suffered martyrdom as a bishop when the Vikings of
Hastein
Hastein (Old Norse: ''Hásteinn'', also recorded as ''Hastingus'', ''Anstign'', ''Haesten'', ''Hæsten'', ''Hæstenn'' or ''Hæsting'' and alias ''Alsting''Jones, Aled (2003). ''Transactions of the Royal Historical Society: Sixth Series'' Cambridge ...
conquered Luni in 860. Hastein was a Viking chieftain, who, around 860, joined with
Björn Ironside
Björn Ironside ( Swedish: ''Björn Järnsida''; Old Norse: ''BjÇ«rn JárnsÃða'') according to Norse legends, was a Norse Viking chief and Swedish king. According to the 12th- and 13th-century Scandinavian histories, he was the son of notor ...
to lead an expedition to raid countries in the Mediterranean.
[Haywood, John (1995). ''The Penguin Historical Atlas of the Viking'' Penguin Books p 58–59] After sacking
Nîmes
Nîmes ( , ; ; Latin: ''Nemausus'') is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Gard Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region of Southern France. Located between the Med ...
and
Arles
Arles ( , , ; ; Classical ) is a coastal city and Communes of France, commune in the South of France, a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture in the Bouches-du-Rhône Departments of France, department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Reg ...
, they turned to Italy where they attacked the city of Luna. Believing it to be Rome, Hastein had his men carry him to the gate and tell the guards he was dying and wished to convert to Christianity. Once inside, he was taken to the town's church where he received the sacraments, before jumping from his stretcher and leading his men in a sack of the town.
Veneration
In the place indicated by the legends, the church of San Ceccardo ad Acquas was built, at least as early as the 14th century, containing a small spring that sprang up where the first stream of blood of the martyr would have touched the ground (a similar legend is at the base of the
Tre Fontane monastery in Rome).
His body is kept in the
Cathedral of Carrara and has undergone at least five recognitions: in 1599 during the episcopate of Giovanni Battista Salvago, in 1625, in 1782 and in 1949, during the episcopate of Carlo Boiardi, bishop of Apuania. The last survey was carried out at the end of the 90s of the twentieth century.
The cult of San Ceccardo, bishop and martyr, was strongly promoted by the Canons Regular of
San Frediano of Lucca, who took care of the Cathedral until the late eighteenth century, when the Duchess of Modena had the church transferred to the diocesan clergy.
This propaganda activity was part of a targeted action of pressure by the above mentioned canons, aimed at the recognition of the jurisdiction "nullius diocesis" of the church itself.
However, this doesn't take anything away from the strong devotion of the citizenship since the most remote times to San Ceccardo - to whom tradition attributes many miraculous interventions.
Feast day
The solemnity of St. Ceccardo, patron of the town, of the municipality and of the vicariate of Carrara, is June 16.
References
{{Authority control
Date of birth unknown
860 deaths
Bishops of Luni
Italian saints