Saint Catervus ( it, San Caterv ) (possibly 4th century) is the

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholic Church, Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocacy, advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, ...

Tolentino Tolentino is a town and ''comune'' of about 19,000 inhabitants, in the province of Macerata in the Marche region of central Italy. It is located in the middle of the valley of the Chienti. History Signs of the first inhabitants of this favora ...

. Catervus is said to have brought the

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words '' Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ ...

faith to the city. Tolentino is known to have had bishops by the fifth century. The Cathedral of San Catervo in Tolentino holds his

relics In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or the personal effects of the saint or venerated person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tang ...

, in his original fourth century marble

sarcophagus A sarcophagus (plural sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a box-like funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from the Gre ...

,Santi e beati: San Catervo
/ref> carved with representations of the

Good Shepherd The Good Shepherd ( el, ποιμὴν ὁ καλός, ''poimḗn ho kalós'') is an image used in the pericope of , in which Jesus Christ is depicted as the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep. Similar imagery is used in Psalm 23 ...

and the

Adoration of the Magi The Adoration of the Magi or Adoration of the Kings is the name traditionally given to the subject in the Nativity of Jesus in art in which the three Magi, represented as kings, especially in the West, having found Jesus by following a star ...

. The cathedral seems to have been built on the site of the saint's Roman mausoleum. On the '' tabula'' of the sarcophagus, his full name is given as Flavius Julius Catervus. He seems to have been of noble, senatorial rank, rising to the rank of

prefect Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area. A prefect's ...

. He died at the age of 56; his wife Septimia Severina had the sarcophagus constructed for both of them.

Christian tradition and veneration

Catervus was martyred for bringing Christianity to Tolentino. When his sarcophagus was opened in 1455, his head was transferred to a

reliquary A reliquary (also referred to as a '' shrine'', by the French term ''châsse'', and historically including '' phylacteries'') is a container for relics. A portable reliquary may be called a ''fereter'', and a chapel in which it is housed a ''fe ...

for greater veneration. It is recorded that in 1567, his body was discovered, along with those of his wife and his son Basso (Bassus). Some two thousand coins were found in the sarcophagus.The coins are discussed in Giancarlo Alteri, ''Le monete dal sarcofago di Catervio'' (Istituto poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato, Libreria dello Stato) 1996. His feast day is celebrated on October 17.

References

External links

Santi e beati: San Catervo
{{Authority control 4th-century Christian martyrs 4th-century Romans Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown