CAIUS, Pope, Saint. - The Liber Pontificalis says he was of Dalmatian origin, and indeed a relative of the emperor Diocletian (this last addition may be doubted). According to the chronology of the same Liber he was pontiff from the 2nd consulate of Carus and Carinus (282 or 283) to the 6th of Diocletian and the 2nd of Constantius (295 or 296); certainly he must have governed the Church at the end of the 3rd century.
CAIUS, POPE - Fragments of the epitaph of Pope C. Rome, cemetery of St. Callixtus.(phot. Pont. romm. di arch. sacra)
His epitaph was found in the cemetery of Callixtus (cf. Diehl, Inscr. Chr., n. 961: erroneous transcription); from this inscription it appears that he was "deposited" on April 22 (however, the number of the day cannot be read with certainty). It is also not certain that the cubiculum where the epigraph is found, not "in situ," is actually the one where the Pontiff's body lay. The Cononian epitome and the fuller edition of the Liber Pontificalis record an important reform of his by which it was forbidden to rise to the episcopal dignity without having ascended the ladder of the lower orders. What the Passio s. Susannae says about C. has no historical value. It is not certain that he died a martyr. Perhaps he is only a confessor.
Bibliography5 worksActa SS. Aprilis, III, Antwerp 1675, pp. 13-17, 982-83; Becillus, Acta S. C. P. et M., Rome 1628; G. B. de Rossi, Roma sotterranea, III, Rom
BIBL.: Acta SS. Aprilis, III, Antwerp 1675, pp. 13-17, 982-83; Becillus, Acta S. C. P. et M., Rome 1628; G. B. de Rossi, Roma sotterranea, III, Rome 1877, pp. 114-20; Lib. Pont., pp. 6, 70, 171; A. Harnack, Gesch. der altchristlich. Lit., I, Leipzig 1893, p. 589.
Cecchelli, Carlo. “Caio, papa, santo.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. III, col. 305. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1949. https://azioneromana.com/article/caio-papa-santo.
MLA
Cecchelli, Carlo. “Caio, papa, santo.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. III, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1949, col. 305. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/caio-papa-santo.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec3_caio_papa_santo,
author = {Cecchelli, Carlo},
title = {Caio, papa, santo},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {III},
pages = {305},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1949},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/caio-papa-santo}
}
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