Zenobius of Florence

The Holy Zenobius (Italian San Zenobio, Zanobi ) (* 337, † 407 or 424 in Florence) is venerated as the first bishop of Florence. He was a saint, and after John the Baptist 's second city saint of the city. His feast day is May 25

Life

Reliable contemporary accounts of his life have not been preserved, so that facts and myths surrounding his person difficult to separate. Zenobius was said to have respected pagan parents named Lucian and Sophia. As a youth he learned the Christian faith know and received, presumably the age of 21, the baptism by Bishop Theodore. According to legend, he persuaded his parents to the adoption of Christianity. (Probably his mother received only at that time the name Sophia, because this name does not indicate a Gentile. ) Under Bishop Theodor he was promoted to archdeacon. In Milan he became a pupil of Ambrose of Milan. On whose recommendation he was around the year 380 in Rome, where he was entrusted by Pope Damasus I with an embassy to Constantinople Opel. When, after his return died the bishop of his native city of Florence, he became his successor.

Worship

He was given great reverence and numerous miracles were attributed to him. An old elm, where the train was passing with his body, as he was brought to Santa Reparata, was according to legend green on this occasion and began to flourish. A branch of it, which was placed in his coffin said to have been found still green, after a thousand years.

This miracle, sometimes the cure sick is represented on numerous illustrations and Zenobius is a popular motif of the Florentine art (for example, in works Domenico Ghirlandaio, Sandro Botticelli, Andrea Della Robbia, Fra Angelico, often with a beard, and bishop's staff ).

From the beginning of the 9th century to the primary place of worship of the Holy Zenobius was his burial, the Church of Santa Reparata in which his body was brought from the Basilica di San Lorenzo di Firenze; and after 1439 a chapel dedicated to him in the Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral.