St. Gaudentius of Brescia

St. Gaudentius of Brescia was bishop of Brescia in northern Italy from about 387, consecrated, according to tradition, at the urging of St. Ambrose of Milan, in whose circle of great northern Italian bishops he belongs. He had been on pilgrimage in the East when he was chosen for the office, and returned bearing relics of the martyrs, which he enshrined in a church he built and called the "Assembly of the Saints."

A notable preacher, he is remembered chiefly for a collection of his sermons, especially a series of homilies delivered during Easter week explaining the sacraments of baptism and the Eucharist to the newly baptized, which are a valuable witness to the liturgy and teaching of the early Church in Italy. He also took part in the affairs of the wider Church, being sent as an envoy to Constantinople to plead the cause of the exiled St. John Chrysostom, a mission that failed and brought him hardship. He died about 410, and is venerated as a saint, his memory kept on 25 October.