Rainerius

Rainerius (c. 1115/1117 – 1160) is the patron saint of Pisa and patron saint of travellers. His feast day is 17 June, and his name may also be spelt Raynerius, Rainerius, Rainier, Raineri, Rainieri, Ranieri, Raniero, or Regnier.

Life Rainerius was the son of Gandulfo Scacceri, a prosperous merchant and shipowner of Pisa, and Mingarda Buzzaccherini. In his youth, he was a travelling musician. Later biographies stress his worldliness at this stage. He met, through his travels, a holy man, Alberto, a nobleman from Corsica "who wore a cloak of animal hair, like a goat", and had entered the monastery of Saint Vitus (San Vito) in Pisa and become renowned for his work for the poor. Rainerius was so impressed that he became a devout Christian. He resolved to give up his wealth and live in complete poverty. He remained in the Holy Land for seven years, living as a beggar and visited the holy shrines (the Holy Sepulchre, Mount Tabor, Hebron, Bethlehem). being treated like a saint even in his lifetime, reputedly expelling demons and performing miracles.

Veneration

His life was the subject of a cycle of frescos by Antonio Veneziano in the Campo Santo. Benincasa also goes so far as to claim "a royal priesthood in Christ" of which Rainerius and all the baptised were a part.

With the growth of Pisan influence, Rainerius's cult spread throughout the Mediterranean. In 1632 the Archbishop of Pisa, the local clergy, and the Pisan magistrates elected Rainerius as the patron saint of the city and the diocese. In 1689 his body was translated to the altar of the Duomo. He is generally portrayed as a bearded hermit in a hairshirt holding a rosary; as a young pilgrim in a hairshirt carrying a banner with the Pisan cross; as being raised by devils; or as dying in a hairshirt.