The patron saint of the Diocese of Adria-Rovigo was a bishop of Padua, killed in an ambush in the Polesine. Bellino led the diocese of Padua from 1128. Some sources identify him as a member of the Bertaldi, a Paduan family.
He was a demanding pastor. He set out to reform the clergy and to recover Church lands unlawfully occupied by powerful families.
The ambush
According to the account of Bishop Bonagiunta, on 26 November 1147 Bellino was attacked near the church of San Giacomo at Fratta. Lying in wait were hired killers sent by the Capodivacca family. Other sources give 1145 instead, and the date remains uncertain.
His body was buried in the Fratta area. Later the relics were translated to the collegiate church of San Martino di Variano. Over time the village took the saint’s name and became San Bellino. The bishop’s memory has never left this land.
The village church
The church we see today was rebuilt from its foundations in 1649. It was the wish of the archpriest, Don Cesare Graziadei, and the villagers helped to pay for it. According to the municipality, in 1774 Pope Clement XIII raised it to the rank of basilica and set the patronal feast on 26 November.
A small jewel box
The interior is surprisingly rich. In the rectangular apse rests the urn with the saint’s remains, commissioned in 1640 by the Guarini family. The presbytery has a scagliola altar of 1668 (scagliola being a technique that imitates inlaid marble), the work of Lazaro Trivisan, with Saints Martin and Bellino.
All around are Giovanni Bonazza’s statues of the Cardinal Virtues and altarpieces by Angelo Trevisani. A painting of 1736 by Mattia Bortoloni shows the bishop protecting a boy from the attack of a rabid dog.
Outside rises the stone bell tower, from the early 1500s. It is a rare example of late Romanesque in the Polesine and was restored between 1984 and 1986. From afar it announces a village that carries in its very name the memory of its saint.
