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Biography

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Rainerius (also known as Ranieri, Rainier, Rainerius Scacceri, or Ranieri Scaccieri) was a twelfth-century Pisan penitent and wonder-worker who became the principal patron saint of Pisa. He was born in Pisa into a wealthy family engaged in maritime trade; traditional accounts name his father Gandulfo Scacceri, a prosperous merchant and shipowner, and his mother Mingarda Buzzaccherini. Pisa in his lifetime was a powerful maritime republic whose merchants ranged across the Mediterranean. In his youth Rainerius followed a secular career as a traveling merchant and, according to the early life written by the Pisan canon Benincasa, lived as a minstrel devoted to music and pleasure rather than to religion.

His conversion is ascribed to the influence of a holy man named Alberto, whom he met in the course of his worldly life. After this turning he abandoned commerce, gave away his possessions, and took up a life of penance. He then went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land and remained there for a long period, commonly reckoned at more than a decade, living as a hermit and ascetic. Medieval hagiography describes severe fasting, miracles of healing and provision, and efforts to convert others during these years in Palestine. The same sources place him at Jerusalem and other holy sites and attribute to him a reputation for sanctity among both Christians and non-Christians he encountered.

In the middle of the twelfth century Rainerius returned to Pisa. He took up residence in monastic houses of the city, first at the monastery of Saint Andrew and later at the monastery of Saint Vitus (San Vito), living as a penitent attached to those communities rather than as a holder of civic or ecclesiastical office. In Pisa he was credited with further miracles, with preaching, and with a life of prayer and austerity that drew popular devotion before his death. He died in Pisa in 1160 and was buried at San Vito. Veneration began at once among the Pisans.

His relics were subsequently translated to the cathedral of Pisa (the Duomo, or Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta), where they are kept in the chapel of San Ranieri. A substantial legendary and artistic tradition grew around him, including Benincasa's vita and later narrative cycles, notably frescoes of his life in the Camposanto of Pisa. His feast day is 17 June. He is the patron saint of Pisa and has also been invoked as a patron of travellers. The Luminara di San Ranieri, in which lights outline the buildings and riverfront of Pisa on the eve of the feast, remains one of the city's chief religious and civic celebrations, and a palio on the Arno has likewise been associated with his cult.

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