ON SAINT ANNO BISHOP OF VERONA IN ITALY.
ABOUT 780.
Acts from Valerius Augustinus and Ferdinand Ughelli.
Anno, Bishop of Verona in Italy (S.)
BY G. H.
[1] Augustine Valerius Bishop of Verona, in the ancient monuments of the holy Bishops of Verona, wrote this epitome of the deeds concerning S. Anno: Anno, a Veronese citizen, born of parents distinguished by religion and nobility of family, Made Bishop unwillingly, previously made Presbyter, in the place of the deceased Bishop of Verona, with the great consent of Clergy and people, on account of his eminent doctrine and admirable sanctity, unwillingly is elected Bishop. That he might not however oppose the will of God, with many demanding it of him, he undertook the most weighty office imposed on him: in which he assiduously bore himself, that the examples of his pristine religion and sanctity he gave more illustrious daily. The blessed Bishop and pious Father, while in the great calamity of the Veronese people, on account of long drought of heaven laboring with dire famine and plague, was wasted with grief, with assiduous prayers and tears with Mary his sister also weeping (who was afterwards surnamed Consolatrix) a most holy Virgin, transfers the bodies of SS. Firmus and Rusticus, of so great calamity by divine monition learned the cause. For by Angelic ministry it was revealed to both on one and the same night, that not before would Verona by the hand of the Lord be liberated from that calamity, than the bodies of the blessed Martyrs Firmus and Rusticus were brought back into it; that there in due honor placed they might rest, where for the glory of Christ they received the crown of martyrdom. So with great diligence, by what means those holy bodies could be found, many and various consultations through him with the Clergy and men of the people excelling in piety and prudence were held. and SS. Teuteria and Tusca. But they were found, and by the work of S. Mary Consolatrix translated to Verona. Furthermore B. Anno flourished about the year of the Lord 755. He consecrated the church of SS. Teuteria and Tusca the Virgins, and placed their bodies in a marble ark. He died on the tenth Kalends of June. Now in the Cathedral Church, beneath the altar of S. Andrew, Body in the altar: in a marble ark his body has been placed. In the consecration of the high altars of the church of S. Mark of Verona, the church of the nuns of S. Catherine the Virgin and Martyr, and of the church of the nuns of S. Mary Magdalene, among the others of other Saints, were placed in them also Relics of this holy Bishop. Thus there on folio 37, but on folio 5 these things are further indicated: "The body of S. Anno Bishop of Verona rests in the Cathedral Church, in the altar of S. Andrew near the northern door, in a marble ark, in which these verses are inscribed.
'Bishop of Verona, who shines in the citadel of heaven, Here is placed Saint Anno, illustrious Father of the city.' B. Anno flourished about the year of the Lord 760.
In the cloth of that altar is the image of S. Anno in Pontifical habit, and in the same church is the title of S. Anno … In an old Psalter from membranes in the church of the holy Apostles these things about S. Anno: 'In the year of the Lord seven hundred fifty-one lived S. Anno Bishop of Verona, brother of S. Mary Consolatrix, who consecrated the church of the holy Virgins, in the said church in the present ark, and gave a great indulgence with very many others.' Relics elsewhere. In the church also of the holy Apostles, as from the aforesaid book, was consecrated the altar of S. James, with the relics also of S. Anno the Bishop; and the high altar of the church of S. Mary Magdalene in the Campus Martius of Verona, consecrated in the year of the Lord 1318, as from an old tablet among the nuns of the said church: likewise the altars of the church of All Saints, as from a tablet in the sacristy of the same church: likewise a portable altar, placed over the high altar of the church of S. Clement of Verona, as from the portable altar itself: likewise the high altars of the church of S. Mark and S. Catherine the Virgin and Martyr. In the church of S. Zeno in the oratory, among the Relics which are kept in the right and left horn of the high altar, and in the churches of the Most Holy Trinity and of Mark. In the Discipline also of S. Mary of the House, situated in the vicinity of S. Mary at the Bean, among the Relics which there are kept, are also Relics of S. Anno the Bishop." Thus there: and they are confirmed in the Index of Relics, there printed from page 76: where furthermore some Relics of the same S. Anno are said to be kept in the churches of S. Cecilia and S. Gabriel. The Acts of SS. Teuteria and Tusca we gave on May 5, intending to give of S. Mary Consolatrix on the Kalends of August, and of SS. Firmus and Rusticus the Martyrs on the 9th day of the same August. Ferdinand Ughelli among the Bishops of Verona establishes S. Anno as the 41st Bishop of this Church, transfers the bodies of SS. Primus, Marcus, Lazarus and Apollinaris, and believes the bodies of SS. Primus and Marcus, Lazarus and Apollinaris the Subdeacon and Martyrs from the Tergestine city to have been translated to Verona by S. Mary Consolatrix, and stored by S. Anno the Bishop in the year 755 in the church of S. Firmus major, in the crypt under the confession of the same church, behind the high altar in a marble sepulchre, where behind the altar itself are these letters depicted in two tablets, also in Augustine Valerius on folio 17 reported.
"The translation of the holy Martyrs, here resting, was made on the 11th Kalends of June in the year of the Lord 755, by B. Anno then Bishop of Verona, celebrated with the whole Clergy and people."
Of these Saints S. Lazarus the Deacon is venerated on April 12, where more about this Translation will be found. But the Acts of SS. Primus and Marcus the Martyrs we gave on May 10. he died about the year 780. S. Apollinaris the Subdeacon and Martyr is venerated on December 6. Finally Ughelli adds that S. Anno, having deserved excellently of the Veronese Church, died under King Charlemagne, about the year of the Lord 780. Which the same things plainly are read in Onuphrius Panvinius in book 5 of the Antiquities of Verona chapter 15. Him celebrates Ferrarius in the general Catalogue and the other of the Saints of Italy; and Galesinius, who calls him Ammonius, but in his Notes says he is rather called Anno.