Gaudiosus of Naples

San Gaudioso by Girolamo Romanino ( National Gallery , London)

Septimus Coelius Gaudiosus , called Gaudiosus the Africans and Gaudiosus of Naples (* around 360 in North Africa , † around 455 in Campania ), was a North African bishop and martyr of Berber origin.

Life

Nothing is known of Gaudiosus' life before the year 439. At the time of the conquest of Carthage by the Vandals on October 19, 439, he was bishop of the nearby Abitina . The Vandal King Geiseric captured him, but suggested that he remain Bishop of Abitina on condition that he convert to Arianism . Gaudiosus rejected this and was then abandoned together with Bishop Quodvultdeus of Carthage and the local clergy in a brittle ship without sails and oars on the Mediterranean Sea. Nevertheless, the ship reached the Italian peninsula near Naples .

Gaudiosus settled on a hill near Capodimonte outside the city, where he and his companions founded a monastery, which he subjected to the rule of Augustine , which was unknown in Italy until then. Tradition assigns him the translation of the relics of St. Restituta , to which the Basilica di Santa Restituta was later built, the successor of which is now a chapel in the cathedral of Naples .

Gaudiosus died around 455. He was buried in the 6th century in the Catacombe di San Gaudioso , which are part of the Catacombe di San Gennaro . The entrance to these catacombs is located in the church of Santa Maria della Sanità in the historic center of Naples . His veneration as a martyr goes back to the legend that he died "of a broken heart" due to his expulsion from North Africa. His feast day is October 27th.

See also

• Catacombs of San Gaudioso in Santa Maria della Sanità, Naples

literature

• Walter Kasper (Ed.): Lexicon for Theology and Church, Vol. 4, 1995.
• Gaudiosus by Abitine in the Ecumenical Lexicon of Saints