Bishop was martyred after trying to save city
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| Herculanus, Bishop of Perugia, in a painting by the artist Pietro Vannucci, known as Perugino |
Today sees the Umbrian city of Perugia celebrate one of the
two annual feast days of one of its patron saint, Ercolano, who according to legend
was martyred on this day in 549 at the hands of the Ostrogoths, who ruled much
of Italy at that time and had placed the city under siege.
Herculanus, as he is also known, was the Bishop of Perugia
and as such was charged with trying to bring comfort to his flock in the face of
inevitable capture by the Ostrogoths, the tribe, thought to have originated in
Scandinavia, which had swept into Italy at the beginning of the sixth century.
They had a large, well-equipped army – more powerful than
the army Perugia possessed, although it had enough soldiers to deter an advance
– and the Ostrogoth leader, Totila, was prepared to wait outside the walls of
the city for as long as it would take to starve the population into surrender.
Perugia’s authorities did all they could to prolong the siege,
rationing supplies and ensuring none were wasted, but days passed into months
and years and there was no evidence that the amply fed army at the gates of the
city was planning to move on.
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| Perugia's Etruscan walls were a formidable barrier |
Ercolano knew more than the ordinary people about how much longer
the stalemate could be maintained and inevitably the point was reached at which
there was nothing left for anyone to eat.
He knew that his own soldiers, while capable of maintaining
guard on top of the walls, would be no match for Totila’s men in close combat,
and he was also aware that even if all the money held in the city was gathered
together, it probably would not be enough to persuade Totila to look for
somewhere else to capture.
In a desperate gamble, Ercolano fell back on a traditional
ruse in sieges – the art of deception.
Hoping he could fool Totila into thinking they were still
well off for supplies, he wandered outside the walls, under the cover of
archers, to feed the sheep that had until that point remained untouched by the
besieging forces, who were reluctant to risk coming under arrow fire.
He hoped that Totila might assume that if the Perugians
could still feed their animals they must have plenty left for their people.
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| Ercolano and Lorenzo, the twin patron saints of Perugia, venerate the Madonna |
Ercolano retreated inside the walls and waited. But there was no immediate movement from the
Ostrogoths, nor was there any in the days ahead. By now at the point of starvation, the city
had no alternative but to surrender.
It is said that on learning who was behind the attempted
deception, Totila ordered Ercolano’s execution, but only after putting him
through the agony of having a length of skin torn from his body, from head to
toe.
Some accounts have it that he was spared that torture by
being beheaded directly and his body thrown over the wall. Either way, according to the legend, his body
was recovered by some brave citizens and hastily buried where he lay.
Some 40 days later, when Totila allowed them to recover the
body in order to have a proper interment, they are said to have found it was miraculously intact, the head reunited with the body, and with no evidence of any injury.
The legend also has it that a another miracle took place, either
when his body was found or at a later date, in that a boy, a victim of disease,
who was buried by his mother at the side of the Bishop, came back to life.
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| The church of Sant'Ercolano in Perugia |
Travel tip:
The remains of Sant’Ercolano originally resided in Perugia’s
Duomo, which was originally dedicated as the Cattedrale di San Lorenzo and
Sant’Ercolano, but were transferred to a new church, the Chiesa di
Sant’Ercolano, which was built between 1297 and 1326 on the spot on which he
was believed to have been martyred. The
altar is a Roman sarcophagus taken from the original Duomo, which contains his
remains.
Travel tip:
Perugia is a city of around 170,000 inhabitants built on a
hill in Umbria, of which it is the regional capital. Established in the Etruscan period, it
remained an important city, always a target for invading armies because of its
strategic value. Nowadays, it is home to
some 34,000 students at the University of Perugia and is a notable centre for
culture and the arts, hosting the world-renowned Umbria Jazz Festival each
July. It also hosts a chocolate festival – Perugia being the home of the Perugina
chocolate company, famous for Baci. The
artist Pietro Vannucci, commonly known as Perugino, lived in nearby Città della
Pieve and was the teacher of Raphael.
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