Paternian
{{Short description|Italian saint}}
{{Infobox saint
|honorific_prefix= Saint
|name= Paternian
|birth_date= ~275 AD?
|death_date= 13 November ~360 AD
|feast_day= 12 July; 13 November; 23 November
|venerated_in= Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church
|image= Bisschop uit Fano Divus Paternianus Civitatis Fanensis Episcopus et Protector (titel op object), RP-P-OB-43.337.jpg
|imagesize=
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|birth_place= Fano?
|death_place= Fano?
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|canonized_date=
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|major_shrine= Fano
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Paternian or Paternianus ({{langx|it|San Paterniano}}) is the name of an Italian saint. A native of Fermo who escaped to the mountains during the persecutions of Christians by Diocletian, he was then appointed bishop of Fano by Pope Sylvester I.{{Cite web |url=http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/1123.shtml#pate |title=Archived copy |access-date=2012-02-22 |archive-date=2015-09-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924114619/http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/1123.shtml#pate |url-status=dead }}{{CathEncy|wstitle=Diocese of Fano}}
(Paternian is often confused with Parthenian (Parteniano), a bishop of Bologna, also commemorated on 12 July.)Sanctity Pictured: The Art of the Dominican and Franciscan Orders in Renaissance Italy, (Trinita Kennedy, ed.) Philip Wilson Publishers, 2014
{{ISBN|9781781300268}} p. 158, n.7]
Life
File:Legendari di sancti istoriado uulgar, 1497 – (san Paterniano) - BEIC IE4411197.jpg (1497)]]
Historical details about Paternian are scarce. The Vita Sancti Paterniani can be found in a codex of the 12th century, though it dates earlier, and was written by a monk of the 10th or 11th century. But it is legendary and not reliable.
Paternian was born at Fano around 275 AD.{{Cite web|url=http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/90981|title=San Paterniano|website=Santiebeati.it|accessdate=13 June 2023}} An angel told him in a vision to escape this city and hide out in a deserted place near the Metauro River. He became a hermit and the abbot of a monastery.Francesco Lanzoni points out that there were neither hermitages nor monasteries in Italy in the first half of the 4th century. Lanzoni, [https://archive.org/stream/MN5017ucmf_0#page/n281/mode/2up Le diocesi d'Italia dalle origini al principio del secolo VII (an. 604)] (Faenza: F. Lega, 1927), p. 498: "nella prima metà del iv secolo non vi erano in Italia né monaci né cenobi." Later, when the persecution of Christians stopped, the citizens of Fano demanded that he become their bishop. Paternian governed the city for many years. He died on 13 November, around 360 AD. Miracles were reported at his tomb and his cult spread rapidly.
Veneration
File:Pfarrhof Paternion - medaillon.jpg
According to one legend, the inhabitants of Fano competed with those of Cervia for the body of the saint. Cervia would be left with a finger, while Fano would possess the rest of the saint's relics.{{Cite web|url=http://www.comunecervia.it/turismo/scheda.asp?id=930000068|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927213203/http://www.comunecervia.it/turismo/scheda.asp?id=930000068|url-status=dead|title=Riti e Credenze: San Paterniano 13 novembre – Cervia Turismo|archive-date=27 September 2007}}
His cult spread across Marche, Romagna, Veneto, Tuscany, Umbria, and Dalmatia. In the area known as the Camminate di Fano, there is a cave known as the Grotta di San Paterniano, which is said to have been his refuge during the Diocletian persecution.
The Austrian town of Paternion takes its name from him. The name appears in documents for the first time in 1296, and its origin is derived from the fact that the area lay under the influence of the patriarchate of Aquileia.{{Cite web|url=https://www.paternion.gv.at/uberdiegemeinde/chronik.html|title=Chronik - Die Gemeinde - Gemeinde Paternion|website=www.paternion.gv.at|access-date=2019-11-28}}
There was an old proverb from Romagna that ran: "Par San Paternian e' trema la coda a e' can." ("On St. Paternian's day, the dog's tail wags"). This Cervian proverb refers to the fact that the cold began to be felt around the saint's feast day.
References
- {{cite book|first=Giuseppe |last=Ceccarelli|title=I Vescovi delle Diocesi di Fano, Fossombrone, Cagli e Pergola - Cronotassi|publisher=Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Fano|location=Fano |year=2005|pages=42 }}
- {{cite book|first= Alessandra|last=Mingardi|title=Le Feste di Cervia|pages=81|publisher=Longo Editore |location=Ravenna|year=1999}}
Notes
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External links
{{commons category|Saint Paternion}}
- [http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/1123.shtml#pate Saints of November 23: Paternian of Fermo]
- [http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/90981 San Paterniano] {{in lang|it}}
- [http://www.fondazionecarifano.it/pdf/depliant_fano_s_paterniano.pdf#search=%22San%20PAterniano%22 Santuario di San Paterniano in Fano] {{in lang|it}}
- [https://archive.today/20050311132119/http://www.comune.sellano.pg.it/materiale/paterniano.htm Church of San Paterniano presso Cammoro] {{in lang|it}}
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Category:Christian saints in unknown century
Category:Italian Roman Catholic saints
Category:Ancient Christian saints