Caesarius of Africa is a saint of the Pre-Schism (Universal) Church. Caesarius of Africa's feast day is celebrated on 1 November. Caesarius of Africa is the patron saint of Terracina;San Cesario di Lecce;San Cesario sul Panaro;against drowning;against floods.

Perrant

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Caesarius of Africa

Saint

Feast Day: 1 November
Gender: male
Church: Pre-Schism (Universal)

Places

Country

Tunisia

Birthplace

Africa

Place of Death

Terracina, Italy

Burial Place

Cathedral of San Cesareo, Terracina

Relics & Where to Venerate

First-class relic of Caesarius of Africa at Anagni Cathedral First Class Unverified

Housed at Anagni Cathedral · Italy

Caesarius deacon and martyr of Terracina and of Sant'Emerentiana (sister of Sant'Agnese) In Italy other bone fragments of the saint are preserved in: Udine Cathedral; Naples Cathedral; Santa Brigida, Naples; Santa Maria in Vallicella; Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls; Santa Maria Corteorlandini, Lucca; San Paolo Maggiore, Bologna; Basilica of Our Lady Help of Christians, Turin; Anagni Cathedral; Verona Cathedral; Foligno Cathedral; San Cesario di Lecce; Cesa; San Cesa

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First-class relic of Caesarius of Africa at Basilica of Our Lady Help of Christians First Class Unverified

Housed at Basilica Shrine of Our Lady Help of Christians · Spain

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First-class relic of Caesarius of Africa at Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls First Class Unverified

Housed at Basilica of Saint Paul outside the Walls · Italy

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First-class relic of Caesarius of Africa at Basilica of San Frediano of Lucca First Class Unverified

Location unknown

== Relics == The relics of the Saint Caesarius deacon and martyr are preserved in the Basilica Santa Croce in Gerusalemme in Rome (basalt urn of high altar), in the Basilica of San Frediano of Lucca, Tuscany (urn with six bones), and in Terracina Cathedral (urn with two shins and a reliquary arm)

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First-class relic of Caesarius of Africa at Basilica of the Immaculate Conception First Class Unverified

Housed at Basilica of the Immaculate Conception · Spain

Marys (Kansas, United States of America) on May 3, 2023, Bishop Bernard Fellay consecrated the main altar of the majestic Basilica of the Immaculate Conception with a first class relic of St

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First-class relic of Caesarius of Africa at Basilica of the Sacred Heart First Class Unverified

Housed at Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart · United States

Raphael's Cathedral (Dubuque, Iowa); in the Shrine of the Holy Relics in Maria Stein (Ohio); in Basilica of the Sacred Heart (Notre Dame), Indiana; in St Margaret's Chapel, Edinburgh; in a private collection in Gnesen Township, St

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First-class relic of Caesarius of Africa at Basilica Santa Croce in Gerusalemme in Rome First Class Unverified

Location unknown

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First-class relic of Caesarius of Africa at Cathedral of Exeter First Class Unverified

Housed at Exeter Cathedral · Exeter, United Kingdom

During the Middle Ages, bone fragments of the saint were translated into England: in Glastonbury Abbey (his relics are listed at Glastonbury in the mid-twelfth-century list of Hugh Candidus of Peterborough), in Cathedral of Exeter and in Cathedral of Lincoln

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First-class relic of Caesarius of Africa at Cathedral of Lincoln First Class Unverified

Housed at Lincoln Cathedral · United Kingdom

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First-class relic of Caesarius of Africa at Foligno Cathedral First Class Unverified

Housed at Foligno Cathedral · Italy

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First-class relic of Caesarius of Africa at Glastonbury Abbey First Class Unverified

Location unknown

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First-class relic of Caesarius of Africa at Naples Cathedral First Class Unverified

Housed at Naples Cathedral · Italy

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First-class relic of Caesarius of Africa at Raphael's Cathedral First Class Unverified

Housed at St. Raphael's Cathedral · United States

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First-class relic of Caesarius of Africa at Shrine of the Holy Relics in Maria Stein First Class Unverified

Location unknown

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First-class relic of Caesarius of Africa at St Margaret's Chapel First Class Unverified

Location unknown

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First-class relic of Caesarius of Africa at Terracina Cathedral First Class Unverified

Location unknown

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First-class relic of Caesarius of Africa at Udine Cathedral First Class Unverified

Housed at Udine Cathedral · Italy

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First-class relic of Caesarius of Africa at Verona Cathedral First Class Unverified

Housed at Verona Cathedral · Italy

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Roles & Family

Pope

Patriarch

Patronage

Terracina;San Cesario di Lecce;San Cesario sul Panaro;against drowning;against floods

Biography

Caesarius of Terracina, also called Caesarius of Africa, was a Christian deacon and martyr whose cult is centered on the ancient coastal city of Terracina in Latium (modern Lazio, Italy). The only substantial narrative of his life is the Latin Passio, a hagiographical text of uncertain date that presents him as a native of Roman Africa who traveled to Terracina. No independent contemporary source records his birth, parentage, or the year of his death, and modern historians regard the biographical details of the Passio as largely legendary. The tradition that he served as a deacon is consistent across the martyrological witnesses. His martyrdom has been variously placed by later writers in the first or second century, but those datings rest on the legendary chronology rather than on verifiable evidence. He is commemorated in the Roman Martyrology on 1 November together with a priest named Julian.

According to the Passio, Caesarius arrived at Terracina at a time when a pagan festival of Apollo was being celebrated. In the course of those rites a youth was customarily fattened, given wine, and then hurled from a high cliff into the sea as a human sacrifice. Caesarius publicly condemned the practice as cruel and proclaimed the Christian God. He was seized and imprisoned. A local priest named Julian attached himself to the prisoner and shared his confession of faith. After a period of detention the two men were enclosed in a sack and thrown into the sea from the same cliff, later identified with the Pisco Montano above Terracina. Christian tradition adds that their bodies were recovered and given burial. The story follows well-known patterns of late antique martyr literature, including confrontation with a civic pagan cult and death by drowning, and its individual episodes cannot be confirmed by independent historical sources.

The veneration of Caesarius is nevertheless ancient and geographically well rooted. By the late sixth century Pope Gregory the Great could refer to a monastery of Saint Caesarius, indicating that the cult was already established in Rome. Churches bearing the saint’s name existed in the city, notably San Cesareo in Palatio on the Palatine Hill, which served for a time in connection with the papal household, and San Cesareo de Appia. The cathedral of Terracina is dedicated to him and has long been regarded as the principal resting place of his relics, though portions of relics attributed to Caesarius were translated to other Italian churches over the centuries. Local calendars in southern Latium and elsewhere kept his memory, and several Italian communes that bear some form of his name adopted him as patron.

Caesarius is the principal patron saint of Terracina. He is also patron of San Cesario di Lecce in Apulia and of San Cesario sul Panaro in the province of Modena, among other localities named for him. Because the Passio describes his death by being cast into the sea, popular devotion has invoked him against drowning and against floods. He belongs to the large number of early martyrs whose cult was received by the Church from antiquity and who were never formally canonized according to the later papal process. While almost nothing about his earthly career can be established by the standards of critical history, the endurance of his cult from late antiquity through the Middle Ages to the present makes him a significant figure in the religious history of Latium and of the wider Italian church.

References

Wikipedia Wikidata

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