Saint Ansovinus () (d. 816) was a

bishop of Camerino The Italian Archdiocese of Camerino-San Severino Marche () is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest C ...

, and is the patron saint of agriculture. His feast day is 13 March.

Life

He was educated at the cathedral school of Pavia. After ordination to the priesthood, he became a

hermit A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions. Description In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Chr ...

at Castel Raimondo near

Torcello Torcello (; ) is a sparsely populated island at the northern end of the Venetian Lagoon, in north-eastern Italy. It was first settled in 452 AD and has been referred to as the parent island from which Venice was populated. It was a town with ...

.Butler, Alban. "St. Ansovinus, bishop", ''Butler's Lives of the Saints: November'', Liturgical Press, 1995
, p. 143 Before being elected bishop of Camerino, he served as confessor to

Louis II, Holy Roman Emperor Louis II (825 – 12 August 875), sometimes called the Younger, was the king of Italy and emperor of the Carolingian Empire from 844, co-ruling with his father Lothair I until 855, after which he ruled alone. Louis's usual title was ''impera ...

. Ansovinus refused to accept the office of bishop until Louis was agreed that his see be kept exempt from the conscription of the locals into the soldiery. During this time, bishops were often required to be responsible for recruiting men for the imperial army.Boccanera, Giacomo. "Sant' Ansovino di Camerino", Santi e Beati, February 1, 2001
/ref> He was consecrated at

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, ...

Pope Leo IV Pope Leo IV (died 17 July 855) was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 10 April 847 to his death in 855. He is remembered for repairing Roman churches that had been damaged during the Arab raid against Rome, and for building the ...

, and returned to this city for the

Council of Rome The Council of Rome was a synod which took place in Rome in AD 382, under the leadership of Pope Damasus I, the then-bishop of Rome. The only surviving conciliar pronouncement may be the that contains a canon of Scripture, which supposedly was is ...

held by

Pope Nicholas I Pope Nicholas I (; c. 800 – 13 November 867), called Nicholas the Great, was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 24 April 858 until his death on 13 November 867. He is the last of the three popes listed in the Annuario Pontif ...

in 861, where records show he signed as ''Ansuinus Camerinensis''. His episcopate was characterized by his generosity to the poor and his pacification of the city's various factions. The gift of multiplying food was attributed to Ansovinus. He fed thousands of starving people from the regional granary at Castel Raimondo, but the grain never ran out.Realy, Margaret Rose. "The Pope's Prayer for Small Farmers", ''Aleteia'', April 3, 2016
/ref>

Veneration

His feast day is 13 March. The cathedral at Camerino includes the marble medieval

arch An arch is a curved vertical structure spanning an open space underneath it. Arches may support the load above them, or they may perform a purely decorative role. As a decorative element, the arch dates back to the 4th millennium BC, but stru ...

of Sant'Ansovino. A monumental

sarcophagus A sarcophagus (: sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a coffin, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from the Greek language, Greek wikt:σάρξ, σάρξ ...

erected around 1390 holds his

relics In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains or personal effects of a saint or other person preserved for the purpose of veneration as a tangible memorial. Reli ...

. His festival was once celebrated by Camerino and the nobles of other castles in the region. The church of

Santi Venanzio e Ansovino Santi may refer to: People with the surname * Brenden Santi (born 1993), Australian-Italian rugby league player * Domenico Santi (1621–1694), also known as il Mengazzino, Italian painter * Emanuele Santi, Italian economist and political scien ...

at Rome was dedicated to him.Melchiorri, Giuseppe. ''Guida metodica di Roma e suoi contorni''
Rome (1836); page 425. Additionally, there are rural churches dedicated to him at Avacelli, Casenove,

Bevagna Bevagna is a town and ''comune'' in the central part of the Italian province of Perugia (Umbria), in the flood plain of the Topino river. Bevagna is south-east of Perugia, west of Foligno, north-north-west of Montefalco, south of Assisi ...

, and Monsammartino. Ansovinus is the patron saint of small farmers.

Notes

External links

Saints of March 13: Ansovinus of Camerino
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ansovinus Bishops in le Marche People from the Province of Macerata 9th-century Italian bishops 840 deaths Italian hermits 9th-century Christian saints Medieval Italian saints Year of birth unknown