St. Emygdius

St. Emygdius (died c. 303/309), according to his traditional acts, was born of a noble pagan family in the region of Trier and, converting to Christianity, went to Rome, where his zeal and reported miracles of healing drew both converts and hostility. Sent by the pope to evangelize the Piceno region of central Italy, he was consecrated bishop of Ascoli Piceno, where he preached the Gospel, overthrew idolatry, and baptized many.

He was martyred by beheading during the persecutions of the early fourth century. Because of a later tradition that Ascoli was spared destruction through his intercession, and especially after cities invoking his name were preserved in the great earthquakes of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, he became widely venerated as the patron against earthquakes, invoked in Italy and beyond — and notably in earthquake-prone regions — for protection from seismic disaster.