Dr Augustine Sokolovski
Our knowledge of the saint comes from popular piety, the written text of his life, the many sermons by Saint Zeno himself that have been preserved, as well as references to his holiness in the works of the great Church Fathers, Saint Ambrose of Milan and Gregory the Great.
From the letters of Saint Ambrose, a contemporary of Zeno, we learn that Zeno was the eighth bishop of the city and a righteous man, while Pope Gregory recounts that when a massive flood struck Verona, the water in front of the church where Saint Zeno was buried rose like a wall and did not flood the sanctuary.
Based on the sermons of Saint Zeno, we can conclude that he served as bishop of the city for eight years and passed away on April 25—that is, the 12th according to the Julian calendar used by the Church Fathers—in the year 370. If we were to divide the Church Fathers into major and minor ones, by analogy with the biblical prophets, it would follow that Zeno was among the minor Church Fathers.
Saint Zeno was a proponent of Nicene Orthodoxy; the language of his sermons echoes that of the ancient African theologians Tertullian and Cyprian of Carthage. He did not take part in the truly devastating dogmatic battles of that time; his sermons did not extend beyond the boundaries of his hometown, where he engaged in evangelization with great success. It is believed that it was during his episcopate that the city of the future Romeo and Juliet became entirely Christian.
Saint Zeno came to Verona from Roman Africa; like Saint Augustine, he was born in what is now Algeria and wrote and thought in Latin. Surviving ancient depictions portray him as dark-skinned. Thus, it becomes clear that preaching the Gospel in today’s world is not merely a possible option, but a duty to repay a debt to those peoples who, more than fifteen hundred years ago, literally gifted Christianity to our pagan lands. Christ is Risen!