Saint Bassian, Bishop of Lodi

Life

Born a pagan in Syracuse of pagan parents, distinguished and wealthy. Educated in philosophy in Rome. By his own ardent desire he was baptized by a certain pious elder Gordian. This offended his parents, and to escape their wrath, by the command of Saint John the Theologian, who appeared to him, he went to Ravenna and presented himself to Bishop Ursus, his kinsman. At the bishop's direction, Bassian settled near the Church of the holy martyr Apollinaris outside the city, and there he struggled for a long time with labor, fasting, and prayer. When the bishop of the city of Lodi in Liguria died, Bassian was chosen, in accordance with a certain revelation in a dream, although he did not wish it. He was consecrated as a hierarch by Ambrose of Milan and Ursus of Ravenna. He had great grace of healing; he could even raise the dead. He was present at the last hours of Saint Ambrose and heard from his lips how he saw the Lord Jesus Christ. He lived in labor and ascetical struggle to a ripe old age, and in the ninetieth year of his life he departed and went to the Kingdom of God, around the year 409. His holy relics remained wonderworking, to bear witness to the power of God and the greatness of God's saint.