St. Quodvultdeus October 26

 St. Quodvultdeus

Feastday: October 26

Death: ~450

I was a bishop and confessor at Carthage, about 437 A.D. In 439 A.D. King Geiseric (Arian) grabbed thee city by conquest. He seized all Catholic churches, and the property of the wealthy, sending many into exile.

I was deported with my priests. Church goods were taken. The grace of God's wind sent us to Italy's coastline, at Naples. In adversity, we patiently ministered to the people there. When we died (Quodvultdeus, around 450 A.D.), the people proclaimed us as saints.

Quodvultdeus (Latin for "what God wills", died c. 450 AD) was a fifth-century church father and bishop of Carthage who was exiled to Naples. He was known to have been living in Carthage around 407 and became a deacon in 421 AD. He corresponded with Augustine of Hippo, who served as Quodvultdeus' spiritual teacher.[1] Augustine also dedicated some of his writings to Quodvultdeus.[1]

Quodvultdeus was exiled when Carthage was captured by the Vandals led by King Genseric, who followed Arianism. Tradition states that he and other churchmen (such as Gaudiosus of Naples) were loaded onto leaky ships that landed at Naples around 439 AD and Quodvultdeus established himself in Italy.[1] He would go on to convert dozens of Arian Goths to Orthodoxy in his lifetime.

One of the mosaic burial portraits in the Galleria dei Vescovi in the Catacombs of San Gennaro depicts Quodvultdeus.[2]