In my "Saint of the Day" posts, I have tried to keep away from the name saints of family members in order to avoid any hard feelings from those whose name saint I may not get to. However, I break my rule today.
Yesterday, when I was researching St. Verena, I came upon the listing for St. Virgil of Arles. So this post is for Grandpa.
St. Virgil lived in the late 6th to early 7th century. He was a friend of Pope St. Gregory the Great (have you noticed how many Saints have friends or relatives who are also Saints? It pays to keep good company!). He was the Metropolitan (Bishop) of Arles and it is said that Gregory gave him the pallium. Virgil was not perfect. He was reprimanded by Gregory on a couple occasions - once for participating in the forced conversion of Jews and once for not preventing the forced marriage of a woman who had chosen religious life. I guess Virgil must have learned from his mistakes as he is now venerated as a Saint. His feast day is March 5.
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