15 December: Saint Valerian of Avensano, Bishop

A defender of the faith until his last breath

On 15 December the liturgical tradition commemorates Saint Valerian, Bishop of the community of Avensano — an ancient diocese of Africa Proconsularis, corresponding to today’s archaeological area of Bordj-Hamdouna (Tunisia), formerly within the archdiocese of Carthage.

Having reached the episcopate at a very advanced age, after Bishop Fortunatus, Valerian carried out his ministry during a period of intense religious tension in North Africa in the 5th century, when the Arian Vandals, led by Genseric, harshly imposed their doctrine.

When the ruler ordered that all the sacred furnishings of the Church be handed over to him, Valerian not only firmly refused, but openly denounced the soldiers’ brutality. His steadfastness angered the king, who decreed the expulsion of the elderly Bishop — he was over eighty years old — along with other prelates of the region. He was forbidden to find shelter with anyone: no house, no field could offer him refuge. Thus the shepherd, stripped of everything, was forced to live exposed to the elements along a public road, where he spent the last years of his earthly life.

Ancient testimonies, particularly those of Victor of Vita in the Historia persecutionis Africanae Provinciae, present him as a true witness of the faith, steadfast to the end in refusing any compromise with the dominant heresy. Death overtook him during one of his exile wanderings, around the year 460, exhausted by deprivation yet always faithful to the Gospel he had preached.

His memory is preserved in several martyrologies: Florus assigns him to 28 November, Ado to 15 December, the date ultimately adopted by the Roman Martyrology as the day of his celebration. A gentle yet unshakeable Bishop, Valerian remains a symbol of the African Church which, though persecuted, did not fail in its witness to the true faith.