St. Eusebius of Vercelli

Their story

Eusebius was born around 283 on the island of Sardinia. He served the Church in Rome as a lector, and in 345 he became the first bishop of Vercelli, a city in northern Italy. He did something new for a bishop in the West: he invited his priests to live with him in community, sharing prayer and a simple life like monks while serving the people of the diocese. This example later inspired others, including St. Augustine. Those were the years of the Arian crisis, when many bishops and even the emperor supported the heresy that Jesus is not truly God. In 355, at a council in Milan, the emperor Constantius pressured the bishops to condemn St. Athanasius, the great defender of the faith. Eusebius refused, and the emperor sent him into exile. For about seven years Eusebius lived in exile in Palestine, Asia Minor and Egypt, often mistreated by his Arian guards, but he kept writing letters to encourage his people. When a new emperor allowed the exiled bishops to return, Eusebius came home and worked with St. Hilary of Poitiers to heal the Church and restore the true faith in Italy and Gaul. He died in 371.