Silaus of Lucca

Saint Silaus of Lucca Father of the Poor
Silaus of Lucca
Died	1100 Lucca, Italy
Canonized	1183 by Pope Lucius III
Feast	17 May

Saint Silaus of Lucca (or Silave, Silan, Silao; died 1100 AD) was an Irish bishop who died in Lucca, Tuscany, while returning from a pilgrimage. His feast day is 17 May.

The legend is that Silaus was of royal blood and became abbot of Saint Brendan's monastery. He renounced worldly possessions and was elected bishop of a see in Ireland. He travelled to Rome so Pope Gregory VII could consecrate him. His sister Mingarda made a pilgrimage to Rome at the same time. A local nobleman was attracted to her when she passed through Lucca, and on her return from Rome the nobleman imprisoned her until she agreed to marry him. She then retired to Santa Giustina and died. Silao heard what had happened to his sister and went to Lucca where he also died at Santa Giustina. The nuns of that abbey elevated his body in 1180.^[1]

The Monks of Ramsgate wrote in their Book of Saints (1921),

Silaus (Silave, Silanus) (St,) Bp. (May 17)
(11th cent.) A holy Irish Bishop who, returning from a pilgrimage to Rome, died at Lucca in Tuscany (A.D. 1100). The many miracles wrought at his tomb led to his being locally venerated as a Saint.^[2]

The hagiographer Alban Butler (1710–1773) wrote in his Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints under May 17,

St. Silave, or Silan, B. C.

HE was an Irish monk, and abbot of St. Brendan's monastery. Being afterwards ordained bishop he governed his diocess with great zeal and charity. The latter part of his life he spent in Italy, where he was styled the Father of the Poor. He died at Lucca in 1100, and was canonized by Pope Lucius III. in 1183. See Colgan, in MSS. ad 17 Maij.^[3]