ST LAZARUS, BISHOP OF MILAN - 11 FEBRUARY

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN FEBRUARY

 Saints celebrated on the 11th of February

WELCOME!

SAINT LAZARUS, BISHOP OF MILAN 

Saint Lazarus (Lazarius) bishop of Milan, was born the son of a citizen of Milan called Lazarus. Bishop Ennodius of Pavia mentioned him among the saints, as can be seen from the epigrams he made for twelve bishops of Milan, among whom is St Ambrosius, and in the 7th place of this list occurs our St Lazarus.

HE BECAME BISHOP IN A.D. 449

According to Bossius, he would have become bishop of Milan in the year 449, which also agrees with a Milan breviary, according to which he endured great tribulations as a bishop at the time when the "Gothic king" Attila was devastating Italy (around the year 452), but without slacking off from his pastoral care. 

HE PROBABLY HAD TO ENDURE A LOT FROM THE GOTHS

But Attila was not the king of the Goths, but of the Huns; also the invasion of the Huns only happened under the holy Bishop Eusebius, the successor of our St Lazarus. Incidentally, if some believe that Ataulf, king of the Goths, is meant instead of Attila, king of the Huns, this would be too early, since Ataulf's invasion of Italy took place as early as 410, while our St Lazarus was probably not ordained bishop of Milan until around the year 438. In any case, the Goths still ruled in his time, and he probably had to endure a lot from them. 

THREE-DAY SUPPLICATIONS

It is particularly remarkable of him that, in order to implore the divine protection particularly vigorously in these troubled times, he introduced three-day supplications, called "litanies", during which several churches in Milan were visited, a custom which at a later time was confirmed by the archbishop Stephen Nardinus and St Charles Borromeo, and is still practised to this day. 

A MONASTERY FOR THE DISCIPLES OF ST AUGUSTINE

He was also the first archbishop who gave the disciples of St Augustine a proper monastery in Milan, in which they could keep a better discipline.  

HE WAS BISHOP FOR ELEVEN YEARS

All writers agree that he sat on the episcopal Chair for eleven years so that the year of his death falls in the year 449. He was buried in the Church of the Apostles, which later became St Nazarius and now bears his name. 

HIS FEAST DAY

The date of his death is not April 13, as some have it, but March 14; but because the Milan church does not celebrate any saints' festivals during Lent, his festival is set for February 11, on which his name is also in the Roman Martyrology, which is why the Bollandists are also treating him on February 11, without giving any details of him. 

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints)