obituary note of St. Francis, died on 4th October 1226

Who was Bevignate, the mysterious hermit lived in Perugia who the Holy Church refused to canonize?
An aura of mystery surrounds this monk who was venerated by the Templars so much that they dedicated their new church built in Perugia to him.
I started research on Bevignate and discovered that he was indeed linked to the Order of the Templars and that  the veneration for his person went beyond the boundaries of Perugia.
I personally went to the archives of the cathedral of Modena to examine an ancient manuscript which testifies that Bevignate was known and revered in other monasteries and Houses of Templars.
Thanks to the kindness and the availability of father Guido Vigarani I was able to browse and photograph the precious liturgical code preserved in Modena, which according to some came from a local “scriptorium,” while others believe it came from Piacenza (where once stood S.Mary of the Temple, one of the most important templar foundations of Italy).

obituary note of brother Gerardus de Ridfort, Great Master of the Knights Templar

On the face of the document is written “Missale Vetus ad Usum Templariorum”. The manuscript used by the Templars consisted of 221 sheets in parchment, introduced by an interesting liturgical calendar.
Browsing through the first seven pages introducing the missal, one can see that templar monks added several notes by hand. Particularly exciting was to discover that, at their respective funeral anniversaries are listed the names of thirteen Great Masters of the knights Templar, in addition to that of Pietro from Monte Cucco, then rector of Modena Templar House, and that of the King of France, Philip II Augustus.
But the greatest emotion took hold of me when I verified with my own eyes that on the day of May 12, when the calendar honors Saints Nereus, Achilleus and Pancrazio, there is a handwritten note in Gothic cursive, indicating this date as the anniversary of the death of St. Bevignate! Judging from the orthographic analysis, and from additions and corrections posthumously, researchers have been able to pinpoint the membership of the code to the north of Italy.
Who, therefore, was the templar monk who amended the liturgical calendar by adding the name of the saint of Perugia? We know that the pen alternated between ten different hands over the years, adding obituary notes.
Orthographic analysis confirmed that the same hand, that also noted on October 4 the name of St. Francis, wrote the name of Saint Bevignate. That gives us useful information on the date of the note concerning Bevignate, which then was certainly not written before 1228, the year of canonization of St. Francis of Assisi.

In the month of May the obituary notes of St. Bevignate and Pietro da Monte Cucco

It may have been a templar monk of the Piacenza House, or perhaps of Modena, to add the name of Bevignate in the manuscript. What is certain is that Bevignate was known and revered even outside the Perugian territory, at least in the environment of the Knights Templar. This is demonstrated not only by the fact that his name is recorded alongside eminent personalities like the Great Masters of the Order and the King of France, but especially by the fact that inside the templar monastery from which came the manuscript, was also preserved a relic of Bevignate.
In fact, next to the name recorded on May 12, one sees clearly the traces of an erased word, where previously had been written: “Hic est reliquie.” A relic of the body of Bevignate was thus preserved and venerated in a monastery temple placed along the Francigena route of pilgrims.
It was probably one of the many relics venerated by the pilgrims who passed along the famous pilgrimage route. Perhaps the precious relic was subsequently stolen, or simply moved to another monastery, causing the templar users of the missal to delete from the parchment the note concerning the relic.
Research on St.Bevignate has just begun. My hope is that, thanks to the network, there can be an exchange of useful information in order to reconstruct the true story of the Perugian hermit who was revered as a saint by the Knights Templar.