SAINT EUSEBIUS, ABBOT - 5 MARCH

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN MARCH

Saints celebrated on the 5th of March

SAINT EUSEBIUS, ABBOT

Saint Eusebius was born in Cremona in Italy to wealthy and respectable parents. At quite a young age he undertook a pilgrimage to Rome, visiting tombs of the holy apostles. In the eternal city he met Saint Jerome, whose pupil, friend and companion he became. After the death of Pope Damasus he accompanied Jerome when the latter left Rome for Palestine. Upon arrival, Eusebius locked himself in the monastery in Bethlehem founded by Jerome and Paul, and devoted himself entirely to penance, prayer and the study of the holy sciences.

Some time later, Eusebius and Paul made a trip to Dalmatia and Rome, where Eusebius had to endure many hardships from the priest Rufinus of Aquileia on matters of inheritance. 

Eusebius, though possessed of great learning, does not seem to have left many writings, yet some consider him on a par with the Doctors of the Church. 

In 420, following the death of Saint Jerome, his brethren unanimously elected him abbot, an office he was not to hold for long; because after about three years he appears to have followed Jerome into eternity, at whose side he was also buried. 

Eusebius is particularly venerated in Cremona and Bethlehem, at which latter place he still has his own altar today. From the back of the holy Grotto of the Nativity, a door leads into a fairly long, curved rock passage, and in this there is, along with the altar of Saint Joseph, also that of Saint Eusebius.

The Roman Martyrology* does not mention him; other hagiographers list him either on March 5 or on October 19. Those writers who confuse our saint with another Eusebius place his name on August 14. (Mart. I. 369)

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, Volume 2, Augsburg, 1861, pp. 120-21))

*A hagiography source used by the authors 

Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints - Sources and Abbreviations

PRAYER:

Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that the venerable feast of Saint Eusebius may increase our devotion and promote our salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.