Our primary source for Epiphanius' life is the
Vita Epifanius written by
Magnus Felix Ennodius, who knew him personally, travelling with the bishop on his mission to king
Gundobad of the
Burgundians in 494–6. According to Ennodius, Epiphanius' father was Maurus and his mother Focaria, who was related to
Mirocles bishop of Milan (304-326). He joined the household of bishop Crispinus at the age of eight and became a lector, learning to read and write, as well as
stenography. At the age of 18 he was consecrated subdeacon, and deacon at 20. Then Bishop Crispinus, as he lay dying, appointed Epiphanius as his successor in the presence of the ex-
consul Flavius Rusticus. Although he resisted the ordination, Epiphanius was made bishop in Milan in his 28th year. Shortly after becoming bishop, Epiphanius was asked to intervene between
Anthemius and the barbarian leader
Ricimer, appealing to both parties for peace. However, history shows that Epiphanius' efforts were in vain, for violence broke out between Ricimer and Anthemius; Anthemius was besieged in the part of Rome he controlled until his supporters deserted him, and he was caught attempting to flee the city disguised as a supplicant at the church of
Santa Maria in Trastevere, where he was beheaded. Most of these confrontations and speakings to high-ranking figures proved to be successful endeavors; religious dignitaries such as Epiphanius had wide-ranging influence on the rulers and
aristocrats during this period. In the eighth year of his episcopate (spring 475), the emperor Julius Nepos sent him on a diplomatic mission to Euric about Visigothic incursions. A peace was concluded, although Nepos was deposed by
Orestes shortly after. Cook notes that of "the thirteen years of Odoacer's matery in Italy, from the defeat of Orestes in A.D. 476 to the coming of Thodoric, A.D. 489 -- a period which embraced nearly half of the episcopate of Epiphanius -- Ennodius devotes but eight sections of the
vita (101 - 107), five of which are taken up with the account of the restoration of churches." The only other incident Ennodius recorded during these 13 years was his successful petition to Odoacer to alleviate the rapacious demands of the
praetorian prefect Pelagius. Another success was Epiphanius' successful negotiations over the
ransom of his sister
Honorata, who had been abducted from the monastery of St. Vincent in Pavia, during the war between
Theodoric the Great and Odoacer. Epiphanius died following the rigors of his winter journey to Burgundy, on 21 January 496, in his fifty-eighth year. That particular year marked thirty years of his service to the church. ==Veneration==