CASSIANO DI TANGERI, SANTO

CASSIAN of TANGIER, St. — He probably suffered martyrdom in 298. Although he is mentioned by Prudentius (Peristephanon, IV, 45), it seems certain that no document concerning his death existed, since in order to construct a narrative about him it was deemed appropriate to append a notice to the Passio of Marcellus, a Tingitan martyr, put to death on 30 November of the same year.

According to this Passio, C. is said to have been secretary to the vicar of the prefect of the praetorium at Tangier, Agricolan; and, witnessing the unjust condemnation of Marcellus, he protested by throwing away the stylus and writing tablets with which he was recording the proceedings. He was seized, tried, and condemned to death. In the Martyrologium Hieronymianum he is commemorated on 3 December.

Bibl.: Acta SS. Octobris, XIII, ed. Paris 1883, pp. 274-284; P. Monceaux, Histoire littéraire de l'Afrique chrétienne, III, Paris 1905, p. 121 ff.; P. Franchi de’ Cavalieri, Hagiographica (Studi e Testi, 19), Rome 1908, pp. 132-131; H. Delehaye, Les actes de s. Marcel le centurion, in Analecta Bollandiana, 41 (1923), pp. 276-78.