CESARIO, saint. - Martyr of Terracina in Campania. According to the Passio, written between the fifth and sixth centuries by an author who knew nothing of the martyr’s life, C., African by origin, was said to have been a deacon of Terracina and to have suffered martyrdom under Nero with his companions Giuliano, Felice, and Eusebio. Of this whole account, only the martyr’s name, C., the place, and the day of his martyrdom, 1 November, are to be retained; this date was accepted not only in the martyrologies but also in the Roman sacramentaries, such as the Gelasian and the Gregorian.
In the Martyrologium Hieronymianum, C. is also commemorated on 21 April; this probably concerns the dedication of the oratory of S. C., erected within the imperial palace on the Palatine, beside which a Greek monastery subsequently arose.