Calimerius

Calimerius
Bishop of Milan
Fresco of Saint Calimerius
Church	Catholic Church
In office	about 270 – 280
Predecessor	Castritian
Successor	Monas
Sainthood
Feast day	July 31
Venerated in	Catholic Church Eastern Orthodox Church
Patronage	invoked against drought
Shrines	Basilica of Saint Calimerius, Milan

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. Another legend states that he was a Roman of noble origin, who, after serving in the military, was converted by Saints Faustinus and Jovita and was elected bishop of Milan. The dates on a plaque of marble in the interior of the Cathedral of Milan state that his episcopate lasted from 139 to 192, but these dates, due to disputes with Rome, may have been falsified in the eleventh century in order to make the diocese of Milan appear to be more ancient than it actually was. Thus, it considered Saint Barnabas of the Apostolic Age as its first bishop in order to become more independent of Rome. As Hippolyte Delehaye writes, "To have lived amongst the Saviour's immediate following was...honorable...and accordingly old patrons of churches were identified with certain persons in the gospels or who were supposed to have had some part of Christ's life on earth."

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