The Martyrs of the Val di Non

t Vigilius began the evangelization in the IV Century and the transition to Christianity proceeded slowly for centuries. Three foreigner ..i stranieri came to the Val di Non and had lived there for some time. They had come from Capadocia (now Turkey). They were recruited by Vigilio, the Bishop of Trent and sent to evangelize a land that was still pagan. They spoke a strange language (probably the Greek), had a skin color different from that of the inhabitants of the valley. Their names were: Sisinio (the eldest),

for the purpose of preserving their fields form harmful things and to achieve an abundant harvest. These ambarvali rites were conducted three times proceeding reciting litanies through the fields leading a sow, a sheep and a bull. These animals were then sacrificed to deities to purify themselves and bless their agriculture. They were martyred by Anauniesi farmers hey were martyred by Anauniesi farmers. The bystanders, not as yet converted, attacked Sisinio with an ax. The mortally wounded missionary was watched all night. The next day the pagans attacked the barracks where there was Martirio and Alessandro. They were massacred burned them at the stake. When Bishop Vigilio learned of the massacre, he immediately went to the Val di Non and retrieved the charred bones of the three Christian martyrs. He brought them to Trento and built outside the city walls a cemetery chapel. In 1212 the original church was enlarged and became what is now the Cathedral, the Duomo of the city of Trento.

Martirio and Alessandro (they were two brothers).They had been assigned to Vigilio by his brother bishop Saint Ambrose, the bishop of Milan. Bishop Virgilius had sent Romans celebrate the Ambarvalia these strnaieri as missionaries to the Val di Non where they were able to create a small Christian community At the end of the fiftheenth century, in Sanzeno, there .while they would oppose whatever pagan rituals that was built a large basilica dedicated to the three foreign (stranieri) misionaries. The basilica recalls and celebrates were wide spread in this pagan territory. the massacre of the three . It a record of early In the evening of May 28, 397, they interupted a pagan Christianization of the population of the valley. ritual disturbing and interrupting their spring rite of Written by Alberto Folgheraiter Ambarvalia. This ancient Roman rite was conducted to honor the Roman God, Saturn, the deity of Agriculture

The Martyrdom of Sisinnius, 1525 Bernardino Luini, c. 1481/2 - 1532

Basilica of San Zeno

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The Duomo of Trento