Saint Calimerius

Calimerius (Italian: Calimero, Byzantine Greek: Καλημέριος) (died 280 AD) was an early bishop of Milan. He is honoured as a Saint in the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches and his feast day is on July 31. The only thing known for certain about him was that he was a bishop whose relics were conserved in the Basilica of Saint Calimerius in Milan, after his death. He was probably not a contemporary and disciple of Pope Telesphorus (2nd century), as is often stated, but lived in the third century, with an episcopate of 270–280. According to one version his legend, he was born to a noble Roman family, entered military service and reached the rank of officer when he was converted to Christianity by saints Faustinus and Jovita. According to another legend, he was born in Greece, and was educated at Rome. He was a disciple of Pope Telesphorus. He succeeded St. Castricianus (San Castriziano). He was ordained priest by Castricianus and served at the Basilica Fausta (now the church of Saints Vitalis and Agricola). At the death of Castricianus, he was elected bishop. According to his legend, when he became bishop of Milan, he preached in the region and was killed during the persecutions of Christians by Commodus or Hadrian, by being flung headfirst into a well. Calimerius' relics were exhumed in the eighth century by Bishop Tommaso Grassi of Milan. The urn and the relics were found submerged in water, perhaps due to the many underground channels that ran under the city. However, the fact that his relics were found this way led to the legend that Calimerius was flung into a well. In the eleventh century, the Datiana Historia, written by an anonymous author, states that Calimerius was flung into a well as revenge for having baptized so many pagans. The same source includes the detail that Calimerius was a Greek raised in Rome, as well as the fact that he was a disciple of Telesphorus, although both claims may be historically doubtful.