A bishop for challenging times

It was a difficult time to be a bishop. Government attempts to suppress the Church had ended but now the government was giving support to popular Churchmen who promoted unorthodox ideas (even denying that Jesus was God).

In the midst of this confusion, in a small city in the countryside, a monk by the name of Eusebius was chosen its first bishop. He was not afraid to be innovative, combining monasticism with diocesan life by living in community with his priests (which was unheard of). Nor was he one to hide from the world, working closely with the best theologians of the day and traveling widely to uphold the faith of the Church (suffering many times at the hands of the authorities).

St. Eusebius died in his late eighties in his diocese of Vercelli in 371.