CERVERI (Caere). — In the suburban Tuscia, traversed by a dense network of roads, numerous Christian communities flourished and had a fairly ancient origin, as evidenced by abundant remains.
The Christian origins of the city of Caere, which belongs to this region, are nonetheless entangled with the difficult problems raised by the entire vast suburban area. In the 3rd century there were no martyrs in the church of Caere, as a legend would have it, which fabricated an artificial group: SS. Maximus, Secunda and companions (BHL, 5857 d). Likewise, in the 4th century the episcopal see of Caere does not appear to have been yet constituted, contrary to what a fanciful account of the antipope Felix (355–58) and a certain local tradition would suggest, which holds him to be its founder (Lib. Pont., I, pp. LXXIV–LXXV, CXX–CXXV).
Bishops succeeded one another there from 499, when an Adeodatus is recorded, until the pontificate of Leo IX (1049–54), by which time Caere had been absorbed into the church of Porto.