Rodobaldo II di Pavia

Rodobaldo II of Pavia, also known as Rodobaldo Cipolla, was a thirteenth-century bishop of Pavia in northern Italy who is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church. He belonged to the Cipolla family, a noble house of Pavia, and was born in that city at an unknown date in the later twelfth or very early thirteenth century. Surviving sources do not record the names of his parents or any details of his childhood, education, or early career beyond the fact that he served as a canon of the cathedral chapter of Pavia before his elevation to the episcopate.

The see of Pavia in the early thirteenth century lay in a politically fragmented Lombardy, where communal governments, Hohenstaufen imperial authority, and papal influence frequently came into conflict. Rodobaldo was chosen bishop in the early 1230s (catalogues of the bishops of Pavia commonly place the start of his tenure around 1230 or 1233) and governed the diocese for roughly two decades. Contemporary documentation of specific synods, charters, or political confrontations is scarce. Later diocesan and hagiographical tradition presents him as a prelate of austere personal life who devoted himself to the poor and to the defense of the Church’s rights and property in Pavia amid the turbulent politics of the age.

He died in Pavia on 12 October 1254 and was buried in the city’s cathedral. A local cult developed after his death, and he has been commemorated as a saint, especially within the diocese of Pavia, with his feast observed on 12 October. No papal bull of canonization is known; his recognition belongs to the medieval pattern of episcopal cults that arose from popular and clerical veneration rather than from a formal Roman process. Historical information about Rodobaldo II remains limited, consisting largely of brief notices in episcopal lists, later hagiographical summaries, and the liturgical tradition of Pavia. Modern scholarship has not brought to light substantial additional archival material that would permit a more detailed reconstruction of his life and administration.