Eusebius op Vercelli, was born in Sardinia; was baiitized in Koine by po])e Eusebius ; and became lector, or ecclesiastical reader at Rome. He was or- dained bishop of Vercelli, in Piedmont, A.D. 340, with the unanimous consent of clergy and people. He was the first in the M'est who united the monastic life with the clerical (Ambrose, cited by Ceillier, v, 500). Pope Liberius requested him to go with Lucifer of Cagliari, and other legates, on an embassy to Constantius, by whom the persecution of Athanasius bad been sanc- tioned. They visited the emperor (at Aries or Val- j ence), and prevailed on him to summon the Council
EUSEBIUS
362
EUSTATHLVNS
of "Milan, which met A.D. 355. The Eusebians (Ari- aiis) at this council urged the condemnation of Atha- nasius, an<l the emperor sided with them. Eusebius of Vercelli having received the emperor's order to sign tlie condemnntion of Athanasius, refused, but express- ed liis willingness to sul)Scribe the Xicene Creed. Lu- cifer of Cagliari and Dionysius of Milan refused also. The third session was held in the palace, the Arian party fearing the violence of the people. The em- peror himself then sent for the three above-mentioned bisliops, and commanded them either to sign the docu- ment or to prepare for banishment ; they, on their part, earnestly entreated him to remember the account he would he called upon to give in the day of judgment, and besought him not to introduce the heresy of Arius into tlie Church ; but all was of no avail, and Euse- bius, Dionysius, and Lucifer were sentenced to ban- ishment. At Scythopolis, in Palestine, his place of exile, he was warmly welcomed, and also encouraged by an embassj' from his people at Vercelli. But at last he was brutally outraged, dragged naked through the streets, and imprisoned in a dungeon. He was then transferred to Cappadocia, and thence to the The- baid (Thcodoret, Hist. Eccl. iii, 4 ; Sozomen, Hist. Eccl. V, 12). After the death of Constantius, his successor, Julian, issued an edict recalling the exiled bishops. Eusebius went first to Alexandria, where he stood bj' Athanasius in the council of A.D. 302 in taking nieasui'es to heal the Antiochiaii schism. See Eus- TATiiiANS. The council sent him to Antioch to end the strife there, but the ordination of Paulinus (q. V.) li}' Lucifer of Cagliari had made matters worse than ever. After travelling through the East he returned to Ital}', where he Avas welcomed with en- thusiasm, particularly in his own diocese. He show- ed himself, in the latter years of his life, a great ad- mirer of monasticism, and introduced among the cler- gy of his diocese the common life. Having learned that tiie bishop Auxentius, of Milan, with the sup- port of the emperor Valentinian, -vvas ver}' actively la- boring for the triumph of Arianism, Eusebius, in 3G4, suddenly appeared in Milan to attack Arianism in its stronghold, but the emperor soon ordered him back to his diocese. He died in 371. An inscription on his tomb calls him a martj'r, and, according to a later le- gend, he was killed by the Arians ; but the writers that arc best informed about him (Ambrose, Gregory' of Tom-s, etc.) know nothing of his martyrdom. The Church of Rome formerly commemorated him as a martyr on the 1st of August, and now on the IGth of December. We possess three Eidstolce of Eusebius : 1. Ad Constantium Aiigustwn: — 2. Ad 2>resbi/teros ct ple- hes Ilaliw^ written on the occasion of his banishment, to which is attached Lihelbts facfi, a sort of protest against the violent conduct of the Arian bishop Patro- philus, who was in some sort his jailor during his resi- dence at Scythopolis: — 3. Ad Gregorium Episc. Hisp., found among the fragments of Hilary (xi, § 5). He executed, also, a translation of the Commentary of his namesake, Eusebius of Cffisarea, on the Psalms ; and an edition of the Evangelists, from a copy said to be transcribed liy his own hand, preserved at Vercelli, was published at Milan (1748, 4to) liy J. A. Irico ; and again by Blanchini, at Rome, 174S. This edition is given also in Migne, Patrol, l.at. vol. xii. The Kpistolai will be found in Bihl. Pair. Galland. vol. v; part of them in Blh. Max. Pair. Yo\. v; and all in Migne, Patrol. Lat. vol. xii. — lleTzoi^, Penl-Enn/lclopddii', iv, 245; Mohler, Athanasius der Grosse; Ceillier, Auteurs Sacres (Paris, 1805), iv, 271 sq.
Eusebius, St., of SAMOf=;ATA, one of the pillars of tlie orthodox Church of the fourth century in its con- flicts with Arianism. Nothing is known of his early life. He was appointed bishop of Samosata" in 3f)l, \ and in the same year was present at the S;|i'nod of An- [ tioch, at which both Arians and Catholics elected Me- letius patriarch of Antioch. The document of elec- !
tion, signed hy both parties, was deposited with Euse- bius. "When Meletius, in his very first sermon, de- clared himself strongly in favor of the doctrine of the Council of Nice, the Arians induced the emperor to de- mand from Eusebius the surrender of the certificate of election. On his refusal he was threatened with having his right hand cut off; but he resolutely held out both hands, declaring his readiness to lose both his hands rather than "resign a document contain- ing so manifest a demonstration of the impiety of the Arians" (Theodoret, Hist. Eccles. ii, 32). During the persecution of the orthodox by Valens, he trav- elled, disguised as a soldier, through Syria, Phoeni- cia, and Palestine, everywhere consecrating orthodox priests, and confirming the people in the Nicene faith. At the disputed election of a bishop for Cassarea, in Cappadocia (370), he aided in securing the success of the orthodox Basil (q. v.). He ever after remained an intimate friend of Basil, and M'ith him, in 372 and 373, took a leading part in the effort to secure, with the support of the "Western churches, the success of the Nicene party also in the East. He was, there- fore, a special object of hatred to the Arians, who in 373 prevailed upon the emperor to exile him to Thracia. After the death of Valens (378) Eusebius was allowed to return to his diocese. He at once be- gan to displaj' an extraordinary activitj' in appointing Nicene in the place of Arian bishops. "While enter- ing the town of Dolica for this purpose in 379 (or 380), he was killed by a stone thrown by the hand of some Arian woman (Theodoret, Hist. Eccl. v, 4). The Church of Rome venerates him as a saint on July 21, and the Greek Church on July 22. — Herzog, Real-En- cyliop. iv, 499 ; Ceillier, Auteurs Sacres (Paris, 1865), V, 1 sq. (A. J. S.)