Our Saints

Are there Saints in Our Family?

As with all families, the Fenarolis have their share of heroes, villains and maybe Saints. The text below relates to one possible Saint, St. Fenarolo or Phenarolus. There is another, St. Gaudioso, for which I need to research further before I can write about him. Perhaps next year. The information on both Saints was sent to me by Giovanni Ernesto Fenaroli. Read on and draw your own conclusions.

THE UNCERTAIN ORIGINS of St. FENAROLO

The first to write of the origins of the Fenaroli family was the Capuchin Father, Rinaldi Fulgenzio. In 1685 in the tenth chapter of his book "MONIMENTI HISTORIALI Dell'Antico, E Nobile CASTELLO D'ISEO", he writes of the military confrontations of the Guelphs and Ghibellines during the 12th and 13th centuriesss. The Guelph's supported the Pope and the Ghibellines supported The Holy Roman Emperor. They were located in northern Italy. Father Rinaldi Fulgenzio wrote of the Fenaroli family as follows: (English translation and rewording for clarity), <.." our warlike people from Iseo, (The Fenarolis), descended from the Vigolo Valley, (where they harvested hay and fodder for the German Armies of the Holy Roman Emperors.) and occupied Tavernola on Lake D'Iseo. There they established their business and family capitol and became the ruling noble family of the area. ..>

Father Rinaldi wrote of a St. Fenarolo of the Fenarolis as follows: <.."in the year 122 AD, in a crypt under the church of St. Angela Merici, (now called St. Afra) in Brescia, there were buried the remains of St. Fenarolo of the Fenaroli family."..> Unfortunately, the tombstone marking the burial and the Church of St. Afra were almost entirely destroyed by the bombing of Brescia in WWII.

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There does remain an ancient crypt containing the bones of unknown Martyrs killed during the persecution of the Christians by the Emperor Hadrian in the second century AD. Why a portion of these bones was attrbuted to St. Fenarolo is unknown. Approximately 1000 years after 122 AD, (12th Century), the nobles of the time "adopted" the remains. Please understand this is my understanding of what was written and may not be entirely true.. Apparently the remains of one of the unknown Martyrs was attributed to St. Fenarolo. As an aside I have seen, in another very old book, St. Fenarolo, written as St. Phenarolus, Roman Version. Today we are reasonably certain The Fenarolis arrived in Italy approximately at the end of the 10th Century and therefore a St. Fenarolo being Martyred 122 AD is highly unlikely.

Never the less there is a St. Fenarolo in the ancient literature. Father Rinaldi Fulgenzio wrote of him within the context of history as he knew it. Maybe there is more to his story.

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Another Fenaroli, St. Gaudioso is a different story. He is known to be a Bishop of ancient Brescia. He was the fifteenth Bishop of Brescia and died 445 AD. More about him next year, hopefully.

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Bon Voyage...........