ST. AGRICOLA

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Symbol: Palm

At the roots of the Church of Bologna there are two martyrs, separated by social class but joined by the palm of death due to their faith. With their actions, Vitalis and Agricola – servant and master – sent out a message of equality and solidarity, which would later be publically acknowledged with the birth of the free Commune and the decree that released the serfs – the Liber Paradisus, i.e. the Heaven Book. The earliest information regarding the two protomartyrs dates back to St. Ambrose and St. Paulinus of Nola, who write about how the two were associated and united in martyrdom. Their bodies, discovered in the Jewish burial place by the bishop Eustace, were removed by Ambrose in 393 and placed in the Holy Jerusalem of the Church of St. Stephen. Their veneration was already widespread in the 5th and 6th centuries. Their relics are housed in the Mother Church of Bologna.