Brief Historic Summary on the martyr  St Lino.

(Immediate successor to St Peter).

 

Introduction: Volterra- monumental town: Etruscan, Roman, Mediaeval. It was defined as 'A casket of treasures', by the Danish scientist Steensen Niels (Stenone), who stayed there to complete lnteresting mineralogical and crystallographic studies.

It is the ancient Velathri Volaterrae, the origins of which, according to Strabone, date back to the development of the Villanovan culture of the Neolithic period (9th and lOth centuries BC). It was the most northern of the twelve Etruscan 'Lucomoniae', and the most important strategic base of the Etruscan cultural system, which stretched from the 0mbrone (river) to Luni, and from Bisenzio Prateze to the Tyrrhenian Sea, including the trading ports of Populonia and Vada.

In the year 90 BC, Volterra became a remarkable Roman town with the 'Lex Julia Municipalis', a 'Grave, Firmum Honestum Municipium' as Cicero stated in the senate.

 

 

            Lino, son of Herculanus and his wife Claudia, was born in Volterra in the year 18 AC. In 40 AD he moved to Rome to finies his studies; finding accommodation in the houes of the patrician, Quinto Fabio. Having been converted to Christianity, in 45 AD he stayed In Rome as a priest, to direct and look after the converted. When St Peter visited the Oŕent, Lino was designated h́s vicar.

            On the return of St Peter, Lino travelled evangelising Retia and GauI, and convert́ng the tribune Onesio in Besancon, capital of the Sequani.

            Volterra was perhapes the first town that embraced the new falth of Its fellow citizen, Lino.

            Returning to Rome he worked to assiet St Paul who was Imprisoned there. when St Paul wrote to his disciple Timothy (second letter) he greeted him on behaIf of Lino and Claudia who were among the few people who had not abandoned him. Meanwhile, in Rome, Lino baptised Nazario, son of an officer in the Imperiail troop, and directed him to propagate Christianity In Milan.

            St Peter gave direction that on his death Lino should be elected Pope. In this, capacity, he took care of the universal organization cf the developing Christian church, regularising the ecclesiastical discipline with the lnstructions, prescription and rules that have come down to Us. For example: the Bishops Consecration', The obligation for women to go to church with covered heads, the 'Pallio lnstitution'. (symbol of the papal jurisdiction).

            Lino governed the church in the bloodiest period of the Christian persecution, during the time of the Emperors Nero, Galba, Otho, Vitellius and Vespasian, consecrating twelve bishops and eighteen presbytery deacons. Lino was beheaded by order of the consu1, Satumino, a member of the imperlai court, and his tomb lies in the Vatican catacombs next to St Peter’s.

Beside St Paul, some other saints spoke favourably of St Lino: Eusebio from Cesarea; Ottato, bishop of Milevi; Gerolamo, Agostino, and St ireneo. The great Dante Alighieri in the 'Divina Comedia', remembers him in the twenty seventh canto of the ’Paradise', and the historian Piero Bargellinl defines him, 'One of the highest glories of the ancient Etruscan town, that gave birth to the second vicar of Christ'. Cardinal Raffaello Carlo Rossi, prefect of the Concistoria of the Roman Curia, founded the 'Pia Unione Missionaria St Lino’, when he was bishop of Volterra during the years 1920-1924.

            Some churches were dedicated in honour of St Lino: a chapel in St Nazario, Milan; the parish of Prima Valle in Rome; in Calavino (Trentino) and in Besancon (France). In Volterra, the bishop’s Seminar is dedlcated to St Lino, whilst statues, paintings and bas-reliefs that go back to ancient centuries aḍrn the town where his name has also been dedicated to a street and city schools.

            In Rome one can see and appreclate a mosaic that depicte all the popes from St Lino to the present John Paul, in the basilica of 'San Paolo Fuori Le Mura'. Some fragments of the Saint's bones are kept In a reliquary In the apostolic secretarial offices in Rome. Others, were given by Urban VIII (Barberini), 1623 - 1644, on the completion of the Vatican  basilica in Volterra, and are kept In a precious silver bust placed on the high altar of the cathedral

            On the 25th and 26th of August, 1857, Pius IX, 1846 -1878, on the occasion of his visit to Volterra, decIared Lino the main patron Saint of the town, and the ancient diocese. John Paul II, duŕng his pastoral visit on the 23rd of September,1989, (day of St Llno's feast) covered on foot the streets of Volterra, and prayed in the church dedicated to the patron, built over the foundations of the house where the Saint was born.

            The solemn words of Pope John Paul were memorable: 'Today we want to venerate in a special way St Lino. This bishop of Rome who was the first after the apostle Peter and patron of your diocese. Today ,it is a great honour as a far successor of St Peter to celebrate the Eucharist with you. I want to venerate with you the martyr St Lino with particular emotion'.

           

            lt can be emphasised that there are few far reaching historical documents about any other Pope of the first century AD, that compare with those of San Lino.

 

  Dr. Mario Canessa