Carpophorus, Exanthus, Cassius, Severinus, Secundus, and Licinius

Last updated
Saints Carpophorus, Exanthus, Cassius, Severinus, Secundus, and Licinius
Diedc. 295 AD
Como
Venerated in Roman Catholic Church
Feast August 7; (Carpophorus, with Fidelis of Como, and Felinus and Gratian) March 13
Attributes Military attire

Carpophorus, Exanthus, Cassius, Severinus, Secundus and Licinius (all died circa 295 AD) were Christian soldiers who, according to tradition, were martyred at Como during the reign of Maximian. [1]

Contents

Legends

The church of San Carpoforo in Como. CampanileSanCarpoforo.JPG
The church of San Carpoforo in Como.

The cult of Fidelis of Como is associated with these saints. Variations on more or less the same legend concern them. The first says that he, with Carpophorus and Exanthus, were Roman soldiers (members of the famed Theban Legion) who deserted during the persecution of Christians by Maximian. They were caught and executed at Como.

The second says that Fidelis was an army officer who was guarding Christian prisoners at Milan, including Saint Alexander of Bergamo. He managed to procure the freedom of five of these prisoners. With Carpophorus and Exanthus, he and these five attempted to make their way to the Alps, but were executed at Como. [2] The martyrdom is considered to have occurred on the north side of Lake Como, near Samolaco. [3]

Their feast day is August 7. The church of San Carpoforo at Como, was, according to tradition, founded reusing a former temple of Mercury to house the remains of Carpophorus and other local martyrs.

Just Carpophorus was often venerated with Fidelis of Como, and both saints were in turn venerated at Arona with two other soldier saints, Felinus and Gratian, on a joint feast day of March 13. [3]

Notes

  1. Monks of Ramsgate. "Carpophorus, Exanthus, Cassius, Severinus, Secundus and Licinius". Book of Saints, 1921. CatholicSaints.Info. 28 September 2012 PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
  2. Alban Butler, Peter Doyle, Butler’s Lives of the Saints (Liturgical Press, 1996), 196.
  3. 1 2 Santi Graziano e Felino, Carpoforo e Fedele

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saint George</span> Christian saint and martyr (died 303)

Saint George, also George of Lydda, was a Christian who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to tradition, he was a soldier in the Roman army. He was of Cappadocian Greek origin and a member of the Praetorian Guard for Roman emperor Diocletian, but was sentenced to death for refusing to recant his Christian faith. He became one of the most venerated saints and megalomartyrs in Christianity, and he has been especially venerated as a military saint since the Crusades. He is respected by Christians, Druze, as well as some Muslims as a martyr of monotheistic faith.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theban Legion</span> Group of Egyptian saints

The Theban Legion figures in Christian hagiography as a Roman legion from Egypt—"six thousand six hundred and sixty-six men"— Christians who were martyred together in 286, according to the hagiographies of Maurice, the chief among the Legion's saints. Their feast day is held on September 22.

Cyriacus, sometimes Anglicized as Cyriac, according to Christian tradition, is a Christian martyr who was killed in the Diocletianic Persecution. He is one of twenty-seven saints, most of them martyrs, who bear this name, of whom only seven are honoured by a specific mention of their names in the Roman Martyrology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">August 7 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)</span>

August 6 - Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar - August 8

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Victor Maurus</span>

Victor the Moor was a native of Mauretania and a Christian martyr, according to tradition, and is venerated as a saint.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Victor of Marseilles</span>

Victor of Marseilles was an Egyptian Christian martyr. He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eulalia of Mérida</span> 3rd-century Spanish saint

Eulalia of Mérida was a young Roman Christian martyred in Augusta Emerita, the capital of Lusitania, during the Persecution of Christians under Diocletian. Other views place her death at the time of Trajan Decius. There is debate whether Saint Eulalia of Barcelona, whose story is similar, is the same person. Up till the proclamation of James, son of Zebedee, Eulalia was invoked as the protector of Christian troops in the Reconquista and was patron of the territories of Spain during their formation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Four Crowned Martyrs</span> Martyrs and saints in Early Christianity

The Four Crowned Martyrs or Four Holy Crowned Ones were nine individuals who are venerated as martyrs and saints of Early Christianity. The nine saints are divided into two groups:

  1. Severus, Severian(us), Carpophorus (Carpoforus), Victorinus
  2. Claudius, Castorius, Symphorian (Simpronian), Nicostratus, and Simplicius
<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gregory of Spoleto</span>

Saint Gregory of Spoleto was a priest and martyr of the city of Spoleto, Italy.

This page is an index of lists of people considered martyrs. A martyr is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, refusing to renounce, or refusing to advocate a belief or cause as demanded by an external party. This refusal to comply with the presented demands results in the punishment or execution of the martyr by the oppressor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theodore Stratelates</span> Early 4th century Christian martyr and saint

Theodore Stratelates, also known as Theodore of Heraclea, was a martyr and Warrior Saint in the Eastern Orthodox, Catholic and Oriental Orthodox Churches.

Carpophorus is a name of Greek origin that means "fruit-bearer." It can refer to:

Secundus is the Latin word for "second." However, it also had the meaning of "favorable" or "lucky." It functions both as a proper name and a numeral title. It can refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fidelis of Como</span>

Fidelis of Como was an Italian soldier-saint, according to Christian tradition.

Saints Felinus and Gratian(us) (sometimes Gratinian(us)) (d. 250 AD) are venerated as martyrs by the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. They are patron saints of Arona, near Milan, where their relics were enshrined.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Defendens</span>

Defendens of Thebes is venerated as a martyr by the Catholic Church. Venerated as a soldier-saint, Defendens was, according to Christian tradition, a member of the Theban Legion, and thus martyred at Agaunum.

Saint Cassius may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Woman with seven sons</span> Jewish martyr described in 2 Maccabees 7

The woman with seven sons was a Jewish martyr described in 2 Maccabees 7 and other sources, who had seven sons that were arrested by Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who forced them to prove their respect to him by consuming pork. When they refused, he tortured and killed the sons one by one in front of the unflinching and stout-hearted mother.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">December 10 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)</span>

December 9 - Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar - December 11

Saint Gordius was a Christian soldier in Cappadocia who was dismissed from the army, lived as a hermit for a while, then returned and made an open declaration of his faith, for which he was martyred. His feast day is 3 January.