Feastday: October 27
Death: 455
Bishop called "the African." He was the bishop of Abitina in North Africa, exiled by Geiseric, the Vandal king, in 440. Gaudiosus went to Naples, Italy, where he founded a monastery.
Saint Gaudiosus of Naples or Gaudiosus the African (Latin: Sanctus Gaudiosus Africanus) was a bishop of Abitina (Abitine, Abitinia; Abitinae article) in Africa Province during the 5th century AD Abitina was a village near Carthage in present-day western Tunisia.
Born Septimius Celius Gaudiosus, he fled North Africa during the persecutions of Genseric, king of the Vandals, in a leaky boat and arrived at Naples with other exiled churchmen, including the bishop of Carthage, who was named Quodvultdeus. Arriving around 439 AD, he established himself on the acropolis of Naples.
The introduction of the Augustinian Rule into Naples is attributed to him as well as the introduction of some relics, including those of Saint Restituta.
Gaudiosus' relics were later buried in the Catacombs of San Gennaro in the 6th century. One of the cemeteries of these catacombs, San Gaudioso, refers to Gaudiosus.
