caption death_date death_place birth_place attributes feast_day imagesize venerated_in patronage titles image article_title name
image at clusone . of saint defendens . church of san defendente 286 ad agaunum africa ? military attire january 2 250px roman catholic church romano di lombardia ; invoked against wolves and fires martyr clusone defendente defendes 06.jpg defendens
 saint defendens of thebes
defendens

saint defendens of thebes -lrb- -rrb- is venerated as a martyr by the catholic church .
venerated as a soldier-saint , defendens was , according to christian tradition , a member of the theban legion , and thus martyred at agaunum .
particular veneration for defendens was widespread in northern italy ; evidence for this cult dates from as early as 1328 .
his feast day was celebrated in the cities of chivasso , casale monferrato , novara , and lodi on january 2 , and oratories , altars , and confraternities were dedicated to him .
he also enjoyed veneration in marseilles ; the `` catholic encyclopedia '' states that `` several saints belong in a particular way to marseilles : the soldier st. victor , martyr under maximian ; the soldier st. defendens and his companions , martyrs at the same time ... '' but as antonio borrelli writes , some scholars believe that the defendens venerated in italy is different from the martyr who was a member of the theban legion .
