Ingenuinus or Ingenuin, also Jenewein (d. c. 605), was the second historically confirmed bishop of Sabiona or Säben. He is venerated as a saint.

Life

Little is known of his life. He was probably bishop of Sabiona from 577 to his death in about 605 and of Roman descent. His bishopric, which covered much of the former province of

Raetia Secunda Raetia or Rhaetia ( , ) was a province of the Roman Empire named after the Rhaetian people. It bordered on the west with the country of the Helvetii, on the east with Noricum, on the north with Vindelicia, on the south-west with Transalpine Ga ...

, was fought over during that period by the Lombards and the Franks. The name Ingenuinus probably means "little kneeling one". In the Middle Ages this was Germanised to ''Jenewein''. From 588 to 590 he took part in the Synod of Marano at

Aquileia Aquileia is an ancient Roman city in Italy, at the head of the Adriatic at the edge of the lagoons, about from the sea, on the river Natiso (modern Natisone), the course of which has changed somewhat since Roman times. Today, the city is small ( ...

. In 590 the Franks invaded the valley of the

Adige The Adige is the second-longest river in Italy, after the Po. It rises near the Reschen Pass in the Vinschgau in the province of South Tyrol, near the Italian border with Austria and Switzerland, and flows through most of northeastern Italy ...

over the

Reschen Pass Reschen Pass (, ; ) is a mountain pass across the main chain of the Alps, connecting the Upper Inn Valley in the northwest with the Vinschgau region in the southeast. Since 1919, the border between South Tyrol, Italy and Tyrol, Austria has app ...

, destroying several Lombard-Roman strongholds. During the siege of the fortress of Verucca near

Trento Trento ( or ; Ladin language, Ladin and ; ; ; ; ; ), also known in English as Trent, is a city on the Adige, Adige River in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol in Italy. It is the capital of the Trentino, autonomous province of Trento. In the 16th ...

, Ingenuinus communicated with Bishop Agnellus of Trento. In 591, with other bishops, he signed a document to the emperor Maurikios, in which he opposed Pope

Gregory the Great Pope Gregory I (; ; – 12 March 604), commonly known as Saint Gregory the Great (; ), was the 64th Bishop of Rome from 3 September 590 until his death on 12 March 604. He is known for instituting the first recorded large-scale mission from Rom ...

in the context of the

Three-Chapter Controversy The Three-Chapter Controversy, a phase in the Chalcedonian controversy, was an attempt to reconcile the non-Chalcedonians of Syria and Egypt with Chalcedonian Christianity, following the failure of the '' Henotikon''. The ''Three Chapters'' ( ...

. Because he suffered from the attacks of the

Arian Arianism (, ) is a Christological doctrine which rejects the traditional notion of the Trinity and considers Jesus to be a creation of God, and therefore distinct from God. It is named after its major proponent, Arius (). It is considered he ...

Lombards, the pagan

Baiuvarii The Baiuvarii or Bavarii, sometimes simply called Bavarians (; ) were a Germanic people who lived in and near present-day southern Bavaria, which is named after them. They began to appear in records by the 6th century AD, and their culture, lang ...

and the

Slavs The Slavs or Slavic people are groups of people who speak Slavic languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout the northern parts of Eurasia; they predominantly inhabit Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Southeastern Europe, and ...

, he was venerated as a martyr between the mid-10th century and the beginning of the 12th century; in modern times he is venerated as a confessor. Ingenuinus died in Säben and was probably first buried there. Later, in about 990, his relics were translated to Brixen Cathedral. In Säben in 1982 a bishop's grave was discovered that is contemporary with Ingenuinus.

Veneration

His feast day is 5 February. He is called the patron saint of the people of the mountain and, along with Saints Cassian and Albuin, is venerated as the third patron saint of the Diocese of Bozen-Brixen.Gelmi, 60f

References

Literature

* Josef Gelmi: ''Bischof Ingenuin von Säben'', Brixen (Weger) 2005; * Josef Riedmann: ''Ingenuin von Säben''. In: ''Lexikon der Heiligen und der Heiligenverehrung''. 2. Band. Herder, Freiburg i. B. 2003, * Anselm Sparber: ''Ingenuin''. In: ''Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche''. 1. Auflage, 5. Band. Herder, Freiburg i. B. 1933 *

External links

sant'Ingenuino (Genuino)
{{Authority control Bishops of Brixen Austrian Roman Catholic saints 605 deaths