Uguzo, St.

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UGUZO, ST.

Popular saint in Lombardy; d. July 12, before 1200. He was, according to legend, a poor shepherd who lived near Cavargna and was extremely generous in dispensing his meager savings to the poor and needy. Suspecting that the shepherd was giving away his property, Uguzo's employer drove him away. Uguzo's subsequent employer prospered from the moment he hired him, to such an extent that hatred and envy drove the first employer to kill the unfortunate shepherd. The cult of Uguzo was authenticated as early as 1280 at Milan and has been honored by various popes. He is the patron of cheese-makers and is invoked in cases of cattle and eye diseases. He appears in iconography with a cheese-cutter and a cheese with a slice cut out of it.

Feast: July 12 and Aug. 16.

Bibliography: Acta Sanctorum July 3:296. a. mercati and a. pelzer, Dizionario ecclesiastico (Turin 195458) 3:1211. u. chevalier, Répertoire des sources historiques du moyen-age. Biobibliographie (Paris 190507) 2:4585. e. f. j. mÜller, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche (Freiburg 193038) 10:361.

[f. d. lazenby]