Shortly before the great persecutions of Diocletian and Maximinus II, he withdrew as a hermit to a mountain about six kilometres from Sarsina which is now named after him (Monte San Vicinio, in the present commune of Mercato Saraceno).
While the priests and people of Sarsina were assembled to choose a bishop, a divine sign appeared over the mountain top.
During his life he had a reputation as a miracle-worker, with a particular ability to expel demons and to heal the faithful of physical and mental illness by means of an iron chain or collar weighted with a stone which he wore round his neck as a penance, in the form of two arms joined by a double clasp and terminating in two interlocking rings.
[1] According to a scientific study carried out by the University of Bologna, the collar, of uncertain origin, is either contemporary with or slightly earlier than the life of the saint.
It is said to be the hand of the saint who by his powerful intercession with God gives grace to all those who make pilgrimage to his altar.