St. Eusebius belonged to a noble family and was born
on the island of Sardinia. His father is said to have died
in captivity for the sake of the Faith. While still an
infant, St. Eusebius went with his mother and sister to
Rome, where he received a Christian education and
where he was ordained a lector by Pope St. Sylvester.
Later he went to Vercelli, where he joined the clergy of
that church. When the episcopal chair of that city
became vacant, St. Eusebius was elected to fill it. He
was the first Bishop of the West to unite the clerical
with the monastic life, for he lived in community with
his clergy, anticipating, as it were the practice of the
regular canons. The clergy he had formed under his
own eyes became so renowned that other churches
earnestly sought his disciples to be their Bishops.
In 354 St. Eusebius was commissioned by Pope
Liberius, together with the famous Lucifer of Cagliari,
to beg the Emperor Constantius to assemble a free
Council. It met at Milan in 355. Seeing that the Arians
would carry all things before them, St. Eusebius at first
declined to take part in it, until pressed to do so by the
Pope and his legates. He positively refused to subscribe
to the condemnation of St. Athanasius, the greatest
champion of the Faith in those days. In consequence of
this the Emperor banished him to Scythopolis in
Palestine, where he had to undergo great sufferings for
the faith…In 361, after the death of Constantius, Julian
the Apostate came to the throne and Catholic Bishops
were returned from exile, among them St. Eusebius.
St. Eusebius died in the year 371, probably in
August.. His relics are preserved in the Cathedral of
Vercelli. Lives of the Saints, pgs. 492-493