Today’s also the day for St. Eusebius of Vercelli (A.D. 283-371), who labored to end the Arian heresy. It was a difficult time to be orthodox. The emperor had heretical leanings, and was in the habit of summoning synods to do nasty things like condemn St. Athanasius and exile the old Alexandrian once again from his see. Eusebius refused to take part in such proceedings, and for that refusal he himself was exiled, jailed, and publicly humiliated. He played an active role in many other controversies of his day. History proved him to pick the right side unfailingly. If a man is known by the company he keeps, then you can be sure that Eusebius was a great guy. Among his close friends were St. Athanasius and St. Hilary of Poitiers. Some scholars believe he is the true author of the so-called Athanasian Creed (which begins with the Latin word Quicumque, and which I try to recite once a month).

Eusebius of Vercelli is not to be confused with the historian Eusebius, who sometimes picked the wrong side of the same controversies.