Saint Renato

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San Renato is a saint of the Catholic Church. In fact, there are two saints with the same name, who were merged into a single one, venerated in the same day (November 12) in Italy as well as in France. They were: San Renato of Sorrento (San Renato di Sorrento), and San Renato of Angers (Saint-René d'Angers). Part of their stories seem to be a legend, part incomplete and poorly documented historical truth. Renato means born again in Italian and represents the grace of being baptized in the Christian faith.

For San Renato Goupil, a Canadian Martyr of the 17th century, please see René Goupil.

[edit] San Renato of Sorrento

The "original" San Renato was a bishop in the 5th century who lived in the city of Sorrento, near Naples, in the province of Campania; therefore a member of the early Christian church. He was the first or the second bishop in that city, and probably was one of the eremites who lived in the hills near Sorrento. His place of prayer (oratorio) became the city's first cathedral, which later was substituted in the 17th century by a big basilica built by the Benedictines of Monte Cassino. The present-day Duomo of Sorrento has a chapel dedicated to San Renato. San Renato di Sorrento is venerated on the October 6.

[edit] San Renato of Angers

This saint is the result of the juxtaposition of two legends, one which was born in France, and another in Italy. The story began when a French bishop named Saint Maurilius, who lived in the city of Angers, also in the 5th century, was one day called to assist a moribund child. Unfortunately he was detained by a pressing task in the church, and arrived too late to minister the sacrament of baptism to the child. Feeling responsible for the loss, Maurice decided to expiate it, so he left Angers in secret and embarked upon a ship, throwing the keys to the cathedral's treasury into the high seas. He then went further to England, to work as the royal gardener. Meanwhile, the inhabitants of Angers had found the keys inside the liver of a big fish which was caught by the local fishermen. They traced the whereabouts of the bishop to England and convinced him to return to their city. Arriving at Angers, Maurilius prayed at the dead child's tomb, and, in a miracle, the child resuscitated, smiling. "fresh as the flowers growing on the tomb". Because of this Maurilius baptized him as René (French for Renato/Renatus) and became a saint of the Church himself. René later succeeded him as the bishop of Angers, and came also to sainthood, as Saint-René.

The story goes on when in 1262, Charles I d'Anjou, a prince of the House of Anjou, now a powerful dynasty, conquered Naples. The French conquerors soon discovered the local saint of devotion, San Renato of Sorrento, as well as the Sorrentini became acquainted with the touching story of Saint-René. Since they seemed to be contemporaries, and were physically described by their contemporaries as being very similar (a bald old man, with a long beard) one single figure of devotion was born by common consent, and the legend was amplified by telling how the Bishop of Angers came to Sorrento in old age, and went to live as an eremite and became the new Bishop of Sorrento. Thus, René of Angers and Renato of Sorrento were identified as being the same person. Although plausible, no historical and documental proof of this identity ever came to light, however.