Biography
Eustasius of Naples
About Eustasius of Naples
Eustasius is remembered as an early bishop of Naples. The archdiocese places him seventh in its episcopal succession, after Agrippinus and before Ephebus. The list identifies his place in the history of the church without assigning exact years to his episcopate.
Mauro Bonato traces his name in two medieval records of the Neapolitan bishops, the Gesta episcoporum and the Catalogus episcoporum. According to his account, the Catalogus gives a seventeen-year episcopate, while the Gesta records a later transfer of his remains to Santa Maria in Cosmedin. These are later records, not contemporary descriptions of his daily work.
Bonato also describes the discovery of an urn attributed to Eustasius in 1616 and the subsequent extension of his cult throughout the diocese. This later history concerns the reception and veneration of an early bishop; it does not supply a secure narrative of his death.
The Naples liturgical proper places Eustasius broadly in the third or fourth century. It names him among the holy bishops remembered together on November 8, preserving his place in the local church’s shared memory even where the details of his life remain sparse.
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