Benignus of Dijon

Benignus of Dijon ( Benign (lat. ) = kind, friendly ) ( † in Dijon ) is a native of Asia Minor, missionary and martyr. As a missionary he worked in the 2nd or 3rd century, especially in Burgundy. His feast day is November 1st.

He is the patron of Dijon and Lombardy.

Legend

According to legend Benignus was a disciple of Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, who sent him to the missionary to Gaul, where he worked in Autun, Langres and Dijon. Under Marcus Aurelius or under Aurelian is said to have suffered martyrdom. Since him, have spared the dogs that should lacerate him, you broke his skull with an iron bar and pierced his body with a lance.

After his death, to him Léonille, have a Christian, embalmed and buried him in a stone sarcophagus. The sarcophagus is in Dijon, where the corpse was found, is empty. About the place of his martyrdom, which has developed into a popular pilgrimage destination, a church and later Dijon Cathedral was built.

In the Benedictine Abbey in Siegburg are located, according to tradition in a made ​​in the 12th century shrine relics of the saint.

Iconography

Benignus is represented as a priest with tonsure, as abbot on a Abtsthron, with a key in his hand, with a dog at his side, with an iron bar in the skull or with lances.