About Us:

St. Secundus was a military officer of Imperial Rome. He was a citizen of the town of Asti, in the Piedmont region of Italy. He was a patrician, meaning either that he belonged to a branch of one of the ancient citizen families of Rome itself, or that his family had attained corresponding high position through service to the Empire. At the time of his baptism in Milan, St.Secundus was an officer of lower rank, which implies that he was a young man. He encountered persecution for the Faith when he dared to bury the body of the martyred St. Marcianus of Tortona. St. Marianus was the first bishop of Piedmont, and is said to have been a disciple of St. Barnabas (the companion of the Apostle Paul). After performing that work of mercy, St Secundus fled to Asti, but he was arrested and after cruel tortures, beheaded. His martyrdom took place at Asti in the year of Our Lord 119, under the reign of the Emperor Hadrian. The Roman Martyrology gives the date as March 29th.

St. Secundus is the principal patron of the city of Asti, where his relics lie in the cathedral. There only, his feast is celebrated on the first Tuesday of May (formerly, as a double of the first class with octave). This transference of the date probably occurred because Asti wished to celebrate its patron but March 29th usually comes in Lent, and in early times, feasts of saints could not be observed then. March 29th also falls frequently in Holy Week or Easter Week, when saint's feasts are not celebrated even now. St. Secundus is commemorated throughout the dioceses of Piedmont on march 29th, but had no place in the universal Roman calendar either before or after Vatican II. There is (at Asti) a separate feast on June 1st for the translation of the relics of St. Secundus.

The east window of San Secondo d"Asti Church shows the saint in Roman military garb, including an officer's cloak like the one contemptuously placed upon Jesus after His scourging. St. Secundus holds in one arm some miniature buildings representing the city of Asti. An angel presents him with the crown and palm of martyrdom. The whole scene on the window, with St. Secundus's horse seeming to walk on water, may refer to some miracle in the saint's life.

In these days of developing world government, it is good to have as our heavenly patron a brave man of the Faith from those days "when Caesar ruled the world, and thought he could stamp out the Church."