Cassian of Imola | |
|---|---|
 Martyrdom of Saint Cassian, ca. 1500. Innocenzo Francucci. | |
| Martyr | |
| Died | August 13, 363 |
| Venerated in | Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church |
| Feast | August 13 |
| Patronage | Imola, Mexico City, San Casciano in Val di Pesa, Las Galletas (Tenerife), schoolteachers, shorthand-writers, parish clerks. |
Cassian, or Saint Cassian of Imola, or Cassius was a Christian saint of the 4th century. His feast day is August 13.
Little is known about his life, although the traditional accounts converge on some of the details of his martyrdom. He was a schoolmaster at Imola, but rather than sacrifice to the Roman gods, as so ordered by the current emperor, Julian the Apostate, he was condemned to death and turned over to his own pupils. [1] Since they were eager for revenge for the many punishments he had inflicted on them, they bound him to a stake and tortured him to death by stabbing him with their pointed iron styli, the devices then used to mark wooden or wax writing tablets. Cassian suffered in one of the persecutions of the fourth century, but in which cannot be assigned with any certainty. [2]
He was interred by the Christians at Imola, where afterwards his relics were honoured with a rich mausolæum. [3] His traditional date of martyrdom is August 13, 363, hence August 13 is his feast day on the Roman calendar. Cassian is the patron saint of Mexico City, Imola (Italy), Sukošan (Croatia), and of parish clerks. Comacchio Cathedral and Cathedral of Brixen are dedicated to him. He is also the patron saint of the localities of San Casciano in Val di Pesa and San Casciano dei Bagni (both Italy) and Las Galletas (Tenerife, Spain). St Cassian's Centre is named for him.
There are at least two references in modern literature to Cassian. In the novel A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole, protagonist Ignatius Reilly informs one of his professors that "St. Cassian of Imola was stabbed to death by his students with their styli," a holy death that his professor would not merit. [4] Annie Dillard also makes a reference to him in her 1992 novel The Living. Bethel College had a Cassianus Lounge in the faculty offices area. [5]
The famous German jurist Carl Schmitt, named the place in which he spent his late years (in Plettenberg) as "San Casciano". According to the common opinion (for the own Schmitt, the most obvious interpretation), this referred to some place near Florence, Italy (called San Casciano) in which Machiavelli spent the time during which he wrote some of his most influential works. Schmitt acknowledges this view but addresses as "exoteric". On the other hand, the "esoteric" interpretation of the choice would be actually related to the very Saint Cassian of Imola. Carl Schmitt identified with the Catholic martyr insofar as he also felt as some sort of teacher assassinated or stabbed (i.e. betrayed) by his own students (e.g. by Otto Kirchheimer). [6]
In Ride the Cyclone, a 2008 musical with a 2016 Off-Broadway run, the cast of deceased students are all members of the fictional St. Cassian High School Chamber Choir. [7]
Agnes of Rome is a virgin martyr, venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church, Oriental Orthodox Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church, as well as the Anglican Communion and Lutheran Churches. She is one of several virgin martyrs commemorated by name in the Canon of the Mass.
Pope Caius, also called Gaius, was the bishop of Rome from 17 December 283 to his death in 296. Little information on Caius is available except that given by the Liber Pontificalis, which relies on a legendary account of the martyrdom of Susanna of Rome for its information. According to legend, Caius baptized the men and women who had been converted by Tiburtius and Castulus. His legend states that Caius took refuge in the catacombs of Rome and died a martyr.
Vitus, whose name is sometimes rendered Guy or Guido, was a Christian martyr from Sicily. His surviving hagiography is pure legend. The dates of his actual life are unknown. He has for long been tied to the Sicilian martyrs Modestus and Crescentia but in the earliest sources it is clear that these were originally different traditions that later became combined. The figures of Modestus and Crescentia are probably fictitious.
Saint Lawrence or Laurence was one of the seven deacons of the city of Rome under Pope Sixtus II who were martyred in the persecution of the Christians that the Roman Emperor Valerian ordered in 258.
Saint Sebastian was an early Christian saint and martyr. According to traditional belief, he was killed during the Diocletianic Persecution of Christians. He was initially tied to a post or tree and shot with arrows, though this did not kill him. He was, according to tradition, rescued and healed by Saint Irene of Rome, which became a popular subject in 17th-century painting. In all versions of the story, shortly after his recovery he went to Diocletian to warn him about his sins, and as a result was clubbed to death. He is venerated in the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church.
A Confederacy of Dunces is a novel by American writer John Kennedy Toole that was published in 1980, 11 years after Toole's death. Published through the efforts of writer Walker Percy and Toole's mother, Thelma, the book became first a cult classic, then a mainstream success; it earned Toole a posthumous Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1981 and is now a canonical work of modern literature of the Southern United States.
Fermin was a legendary holy man and martyr, traditionally venerated as the co-patron saint of Navarre, Spain. His death may be associated with either the Decian persecution (250) or Diocletianic Persecution (303).
Roch, also called Rock in English, was a Majorcan Catholic confessor whose death is commemorated on 16 August and 9 September in Italy; he was especially invoked against the plague. He has the designation of Rollox in Glasgow, Scotland, said to be a corruption of Roch's Loch, which referred to a small loch once near a chapel dedicated to Roch in 1506.
August 12 - Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar - August 14
Vitalis of Milan was an early Christian martyr and saint.
Victor of Marseilles was an Egyptian Christian martyr. He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church.
Genesius of Arles was a notary martyred under Maximianus in 303 or 308. He is honoured in the Catholic Church as the patron saint of notaries and secretaries, and invoked against chilblains and scurf. His feast day is celebrated on August 25.
Alexander Briant, SJ was an English Jesuit and martyr, executed at Tyburn.
Jovita and Faustinus were said to be Christian martyrs under Hadrian. Their traditional date of death is 120. They are patron saints of Brescia.
According to legend, Rufinus of Assisi, was the first bishop of this city and a martyr.
Nicomedes was a martyr of unknown era, whose feast is observed 15 September. He was buried in a catacomb on the Via Nomentana near the gate of that name.
Alexander of Bergamo is the patron saint of Bergamo, as well as Capriate San Gervasio and Cervignano d'Adda. Alexander may have been a Roman soldier or resident of Bergamo who was tortured and killed for not renouncing his Christian faith. Details of his life are uncertain, but subsequent Christian stories consider him a centurion of the Theban Legion commanded by Maurice.
Basilides and Potamiaena were Christian martyrs now venerated as saints. Both died in Alexandria during the persecutions under Septimius Severus.
Praejectus, Prejectus or Projectus (625–676) was a bishop of Clermont, who was killed together with the abbot Amarinus as a result of political struggles of the day.
Saint Barsimaeus was a bishop of Edessa who is revered as a martyr. His feast day is 30 January. In fact, his story probably derives from that of a much later bishop of Edessa who was persecuted around 250 AD but not martyred.
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