Saint Cassian of Tangier (or of Tangiers or of Tingis) was a Christian saint of the 3rd century. He is traditionally said to have been beheaded on 3 December, AD 298, during the reign of
Diocletian
Diocletian ( ; ; ; 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed Jovius, was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Diocles to a family of low status in the Roman province of Dalmatia (Roman province), Dalmatia. As with other Illyri ...
. The ''Passion'' of Saint Cassian is appended to that of Saint
Marcellus of Tangier
Saint Marcellus of Tangier or Saint Marcellus the Centurion () (c. mid 3rd century – 298 AD) was a Roman people, Roman centurion who is today venerated as a Christian martyr, martyr-saint in both the Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox and ...
and his saint day is celebrated on 3 December.
Life
According to it, he was a court recorder at the trial of
St. Marcellus the Centurion.
Aurelius Agricola, deputy prefect in the Roman province in
North Africa
North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...
, conducted the trial. When the death penalty was imposed on St. Marcellus, Cassian threw down his pen and declared that the sentence was unjust. He was arrested immediately and put to death a few days later on December 3.
Veneration
Cassian is the
patron saint
A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy or Oriental Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, fa ...
of modern
stenographers. Saint Cassian of Tangier is the martyr mentioned by St.
Prudentius
Aurelius Prudentius Clemens () was a Roman Christian poet, born in the Roman province of Tarraconensis (now Northern Spain) in 348.H. J. Rose, ''A Handbook of Classical Literature'' (1967) p. 508 He probably died in the Iberian Peninsula some ...
(born 348) in his hymn ''
Liber Peristephanon'' (''De Coronis Martyrum'') (Carmen IV, 45-4
: "Ingeret Tingis sua Cassianum,
festa Massylum monumenta regum,
qui cinis gentes domitas coegit.
ad iuga Christi."
References
Sources
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Tangier, Cassian Of
Mauretania Tingitana
Christianity in Morocco
3rd-century births
298 deaths
People from Tangier
3rd-century Christian martyrs
Roman saints from Africa (continent)