jeudi 13 août 2015

Saint CASSIEN d'IMOLA, martyr

Innocenzo di Pietro Francucci da Imola  (1494–1548)Martyre de saint Cassien, vers 1500.



Saint Cassien

Martyr en Emilie (+ v. 300)

Il instruisait les enfants qui ne l'aimaient qu'à moitié à cause des châtiments qu'ils recevaient durant leurs études. Découvert comme chrétien, le gouverneur d'Imola le condamna à mort, donnant ce pouvoir aux enfants. Leur supplice fut cruel, car, à cause de leur faiblesse, ces enfants ne purent le tuer qu'en multipliant des coups maladroits et dans un long espace de temps.

Au Forum de Cornelius [Imola] en Émilie, vers 300, saint Cassien, martyr. Maître d’école, il avait refusé d’adorer les idoles et fut livré à ses élèves pour qu’ils le lacèrent à mort avec leurs poinçons, de façon que, plus faibles étaient leurs mains, plus longue fut la torture du martyr.

Martyrologe romain

SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/1659/Saint-Cassien.html

Jan Luyken (1649-1712). Martyre de saint Cassien, Martyrs Mirror.


Saint Cassien

Fête le 13 août

Martyr

Légende de la gravure

Saint Cassien, maître d’école, est livré à la cruauté de ses élèves, qui le font mourir lentement à coups de stylet.

Au fond de la cathédrale d’Imola, à côté du tombeau de saint Pierre Chrysologue, l’illustre archevêque de Ravenne, s’élève un autre tombeau, dont les vastes proportions attirent l’attention des visiteurs. Ce monument, que décorent des sculptures d’un grand mérite, a été restauré par Mastaï Ferretti, évêque d’Imola, qui devait plus tard occuper le siège pontifical, sous le nom vénéré de Pie IX.

Ce riche mausolée renferme les reliques d’un confesseur de la Foi, dont les poètes ont chanté le glorieux martyre, et que l’Eglise honore à la date du 13 août, sous le nom de saint Cassien.

Saint Cassien, martyrisé durant la dixième persécution, pour avoir ouvert une école où il enseignait, avec les règles de la grammaire, les premiers préceptes de la religion chrétienne ; est le patron des maîtres chrétiens persécutés. On doit donc l’invoquer avec plus de ferveur à ce moment où Satan prétend s’emparer de l’enfance, au moyen des écoles sans Dieu. Sa mort glorieuse est un encouragement et un exemple et elle montre à tous ceux qui ont consacré leur vie à l’éducation et à la conservation de l’enfance que si, sur la terre, ils sont parfois en butte au mauvais vouloir et à l’ingratitude des hommes, ils sont appelés à recevoir la récompense plus solide et plus durable que Dieu ne refuse pas à ses serviteurs.

Si l’on en croit le témoignage de certains chroniqueurs, saint Cassien aurait été évêque de Brescia. Chassé de son siège épiscopal par la persécution, il aurait été obligé de se retirer à Imola et il aurait ouvert une école, dans cette ville encore païenne. L’iconographie s’emparant de ces traditions confuses, a souvent représenté le saint avec les insignes épiscopaux, et la vieille gravure dont nous donnons le facsimile, fait intervenir un ange qui tient entre ses mains la palme et la mitre, signe qu’on n’attribue qu’aux pontifes martyrs.

Cependant nous croyons plus probable que la similitude de nom a fait confondre le martyr d’Imola avec un autre Cassien, évêque de Brescia, qui lui aussi a subi le martyre durant la persécution de Dioclétien.

Quelle que soit l’opinion que l’on adopte, le saint voyant que, malgré toutes les prédications, le peuple d’Imola restait obstinément attaché au culte des idoles, résolut de sauver au moins les âmes des enfants, et, dans ce but, il ouvrit une école.

Sa réputation de grammairien attira autour de lui une grande affluence de disciples et le maître, dont tout le monde vantait la science et le dévouement, put bientôt exercer un sérieux apostolat en inculquant avec les préceptes de la rhétorique les premières vérités de la Foi.

Cependant l’œuvre de l’éducation ne peut point s’accomplir sans labeur et sans fatigue, et, dans l’exercice de ses fonctions, le professeur eut à éprouver bien des difficultés de la part de son auditoire. Bien souvent il se vit contraint de recourir aux réprimandes et aux punitions, et ces mesures de rigueur soulevèrent contre lui la foule des paresseux et des mauvais écoliers.

Impatient de s’affranchir d’un joug insupportable, ceux-ci résolurent de se débarrasser d’un maître qu’ils trouvaient trop sévère, et à l’instigation des instituteurs païens, dont les écoles avaient été désertées, ils n’hésitèrent pas à ourdir un abominable complot contre le saint.

A ce moment, des édits de persécution venaient d’être portés contre les chrétiens, et sur tous les points de l’empire les disciples du Christ, pourchassés comme des bêtes fauves, étaient condamnés aux plus cruels supplices.

Les écoliers, jaloux de satisfaire leurs mesquines vengeances, ne refusèrent pas de jouer le rôle infâme de délateurs et, se portant en foule au tribunal, ils accusèrent leur maître de professer la religion chrétienne.

Cette seule dénomination équivalait à un arrêt de mort.

Le proconsul qui avait exécuté dans toute leur rigueur les édits de persécutions, jugea que la prison, les chevalets, les verges, les tourments ordinaires ne suffiraient pas à faire expier à Cassien le crime qu’on lui reprochait. Voyant l’acharnement que mettaient ces enfants à poursuivre le saint, il imagina un nouveau supplice dont la seule description fait frémir d’épouvante.

Par son ordre, Cassien est attaché dans l’école même où il donnait ses leçons à des disciples indociles, et ceux mêmes qui se sont faits ses accusateurs sont appelés à remplir l’office de bourreau. Et comme les instruments qu’on a l’habitude d’employer pour torturer les autres condamnés ne prolongeraient pas assez le supplice, on arme les mains encore débiles des écoliers, du stylet dont ils se servent pour transcrire les leçons du professeur, et on les jette sur leur maître, enchaîné et impuissant.

La gravure que nous avons reproduite dépeint cette scène dans toute son horreur. Les écoliers excités par les sicaires du proconsul s’acharnent avec une joie sauvage sur le maître, qu’ils n’ont plus à redouter, et ils se font un plaisir de cribler son corps de blessures.

Le saint en butte aux outrages et aux coups de cette vengeance sans pitié voit couler son sang goutte à goutte, ses forces s’épuisent, son courage seul ne faiblit point, son visage conserve toujours la même expression de douceur, de tristesse, et de résignation ; et le maître, déplorant l’égarement de ceux qui ont si mal profité de son enseignement, se console de l’ingratitude qu’il rencontre sur cette terre en pensant à la gloire immortelle qui l’attend dans les cieux.

SOURCE : http://viedessaints.free.fr/vds/cassien.html

Adam BaldaufSaint Cassien, bois polychrome, vers 1620


Saint Cassian of Imola

Also known as

Cassiano

Memorial

13 August

Profile

Schoolmaster at ImolaItaly who taught hand-writing, and sometimes talked about Christianity. During one of the imperial persecutions he was ordered to sacrifice to pagan gods; he refused. He was turned over to his pagan students who were ordered to execute him; they did. Martyr.

Died

tied to a post, tortured and stabbed to death with iron styles, the device used as a pencil on wax tablets, at ImolaItaly c.304

buried in the catacombs in RomeItaly

a sepulchre was built over his place of burial later in the 4th century

in the 5th century, a basilica was built in place of the sepulchre

relics transferred to the crypt of the cathedral in Imola in 1175

relics enshrined in a silver and copper reliquary in Imola c.1405

from 1577 to 1914, the relics were annually processed through Imola

some relics (4 pieces of the post to which he was tied) transferred to BressanoneItaly in 1684

Canonized

Pre-Congregation

Patronage

parish clerks

secretaries

stenographers

students

teachers

Bolzano-Bressanone, Italydiocese of

BrixenItalydiocese of

in Italy

Bibbiena

Cassano Valcuvia

Comacchio

Imola

Laterina

Macherio

San Casciano dei Bagni

San Casciano in Val di Pesa

San Cassiano a Vico

San Cassiano di Controne

San Cassiano di Moriano

Trecate

Mexico CityMexico

Las GalletasTenerifeSpain

Representation

man being stabbed by children

paper

pen

writing instruments

Additional Information

Book of Saints, by the Monks of Ramsgate

Lives of the Saints, by Father Alban Butler

Lives of the Saints, by Father Francis Xavier Weninger

New Catholic Dictionary

books

Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints

other sites in english

Regina Magazine

Wikipedia

images

Santi e Beati

Wikimedia Commons

sitios en español

Hagiopedia

Martirologio Romano2001 edición

Wikipedia

fonti in italiano

Martirologio Romano2005 edition

Santi e Beati

Wikipedia

nettsteder i norsk

Den katolske kirke

MLA Citation

“Saint Cassian of Imola“. CatholicSaints.Info. 17 February 2022. Web. 2 June 2022. <http://catholicsaints.info/saint-cassian-of-imola/>

SOURCE : http://catholicsaints.info/saint-cassian-of-imola/


Weninger’s Lives of the Saints – Saint Cassian, Martyrs

Article

On the same day, though at another place, Saint Cassian suffered a martyrdom of unprecedented cruelty. This saint, was bishop of Brescia, but had been banished from his See on account of his faith. He intended to go to Rome and offer the Pope his services for the salvation of souls in some other place. On his way, he changed his mind, and taking up his residence at Imola, a town in Italy, he resolved to teach children to read and write, hoping that occasion would not be wanting to do good. In this apparently humble position, he was no less zealous than he had been in the administration of his diocese. He taught the children with love and gentleness, and endeavored to inspire them with respect for the Christian faith, fear and horror of sin, and love of virtue and piety. He continued in this occupation with great zeal for some years, to the great benefit of young and old, when suddenly a terrible persecution of the Christians arose. He was one of the first who were taken prisoners. The tyrant commanded him to sacrifice to the gods. The holy bishop and teacher refused, as might have been expected, and tried to convince the judge of his fearful blindness in worshipping dumb idols or making gods of godless men. The tyrant, furious at his arguments, ordered the executioners to strip him of his clothes and tie his hands behind his back, and leave him exposed to the mercy of the children whom he had taken such pains to teach. The children, who had been taught that Cassian was a magician and consequently must die a most painful death, took their sharp iron pencils with which, in those days, they wrote upon their wax tablets, and pierced him with them till the blood ran profusely from his veins. This torture lasted long and was extremely painful. The saint, however, never complained of the ingratitude of his pupils, nor gave a sign of impatience, but praised and thanked the Lord until his soul went to Heaven to receive the crown of martyrdom.

Practical Considerations

Saint Cassius especially endeavored to impress three moral points upon the minds of his pupils; esteem for the true faith, horror for sin, and love of virtue and piety. Oh! that all parents and teachers would try to impress these sentiments deeply upon the hearts of their children and pupils! How different our youth would be! But these points should be recommended to the consideration of those also who are past the age of youth. Whoever you are, esteem the true faith above all things; for, it is a priceless grace that the Almighty has not permitted you to be born in Judaism or idolatry, but has granted you that faith without which there is no salvation. Fear and abhor sin more than any other evil; for, it can do you more harm than any other. Sin alone can make you eternally unhappy. Love virtue and piety; for, “godliness is,” according to the Apostle, “profitable to all things.” (1st Timothy 4) Without virtue we cannot go to Heaven. “Vainly does he desire to obtain the heavenly glories, who is not adorned with virtue. Virtue is the road to glory. Through virtue we attain eternal honor and joy,” writes Saint Bernard.

MLA Citation

Father Francis Xavier Weninger, DD, SJ. “Saint Cassian, Martyrs”. Lives of the Saints1876. CatholicSaints.Info. 2 April 2018. Web. 2 June 2022. <https://catholicsaints.info/weningers-lives-of-the-saints-saint-cassian-martyrs/>

SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/weningers-lives-of-the-saints-saint-cassian-martyrs/

Paul Troger  (1698–1762). Die Marter des heiligen Cassian, 1751-1753, 75 x 45, Belvedere


August 13

St. Cassian, Martyr

HE was a Christian schoolmaster, and taught children to read and write, at Imola, 1 a city twenty-seven miles from Ravenna in Italy. A violent persecution being raised against the church, probably that of Decius or Valerian, or according to some, that of Julian, he was taken up, and interrogated by the governor of the province. As he constantly refused to sacrifice to the gods, the barbarous judge having informed himself of what profession he was, commanded that his own scholars should stab him to death with their iron writing pencils, called styles; for at that time it was the custom for scholars to write upon wax laid on a board of boxen wood, in which they formed the letters with an iron style or pencil, sharp at one end, but blunt and smooth at the other, to erase what was to be effaced or corrected. 2 They also often wrote on boxen wood itself, as St. Ambrose mentions. 3 The smaller the instruments were, and the weaker the executioners, the more lingering and cruel was this martyr’s death. He was exposed naked in the midst of two hundred boys; among whom some threw their tablets, pencils, and penknives at his face and head, and often broke them upon his body; others cut his flesh or stabbed him with their penknives, and others pierced him with their pencils, sometimes only tearing the skin and flesh, and sometimes raking in his very bowels. Some made it their barbarous sport to cut part of their writing-task in his tender skin. Thus, covered with his own blood, and wounded in every part of his body, he cheerfully bade his little executioners not to be afraid; and to strike him with greater force; not meaning to encourage them in their sin, but to express the ardent desire he had to die for Christ. He was interred by the Christians at Imola, where afterwards his relics were honoured with a rich mausolæum. Prudentius tells us, that in his journey to Rome, he visited this holy martyr’s tomb, and prostrate before it implored the divine mercy for the pardon of his sins with many tears. He mentions a moving picture of the saint’s martyrdom hanging over the altar, representing his cruel death in the manner he has recorded it in verse. He exhorts all others with him to commend their petitions to this holy martyr’s patronage, who fails not to hear pious supplications. 4 See Prudent. de Cor. hym. 9 de S. Cassiano, p. 203. His sacred remains are venerated in a rich shrine at Imola in the cathedral. See Manzorius, J. U. D. et Canonicus Imolensis in Hist. Episcoporum Imolens. an 1719, and Bosch the Bollandist, t. 3, Aug. p. 16. 5

Note 1. Imola was anciently called Forum Cornelii from its founder Cornelius Sylla. [back]

Note 2. See Weitzii Notæ in Prud. hic. p. 605. Casaubon. in Suet. p. 58. Echard. in Symbolis, p. 536, &c. from Cicero, &c. The most ancient manner of writing was a kind of engraving, whereby the letters were formed in tablets of lead, wood, wax, or like materials. This was done by styles made of iron, brass, or bone. Instead of such tablets, leaves of papyrus, a weed which grew on the banks of the Nile, (also of the Ganges,) were used first in Egypt; afterwards parchment, made of fine skins of beasts, was invented at Pergamum. Lastly, paper was invented, which is made of linen cloth. Books anciently written only on one side, were done up in rolls, and when opened or unfolded, filled a whole room, as Martial complains; but when written on both sides on square leaves, were reduced to narrow bounds, as the same poet observes. See Mabillon De Re Diplomaticâ, and Calmet, Diss. sur les Livres des Anciens, et les diverses Manières d’Ecrire, t. 7, p. 31. &c. [back]

Note 3. Hexaëmer. l. 3, c. 13. [back]

Note 4.

Audit, crede, preces martyr prosperrimus omnes

Ratasque reddet quas videt probabiles.”

v. 97

 [back]

Note 5. Baronius justly rejects the false legends which pretend that St. Cassian was banished from Sabiona, now Siben, a small ancient town in Tirol, in Germany, where these legends suppose the bishopric to have been originally placed, which, from the sixth century, is fixed at Brixen, a small city in the same province of Tirol, suffragan to Trent. Rubeus, the historian of Ravenna, confounds Brixen with Brescia in Lombardy. See the false acts of St. Cassian, published by Roschman, imperial librarian at Ins, who endeavours to defend their veracity in making him bishop of Siben; but he might be titular saint of the cathedral of Brixen without having been bishop or native of that country. See Vindiciæ Martyrologii Romani de S. Cassiano. Veronæ, 1751, 4to. [back]

Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73).  Volume VIII: August. The Lives of the Saints.  1866.

SOURCE : http://www.bartleby.com/210/8/132.html

Sculpture de Saint Cassien d’Imola. Annasäule, Innsbruck

Detail of the Annasäule in Innsbruck, showing the sculpture of Cassian of Imola.

Statue von Kassian auf der Annasäule in Innsbruck.


St. Cassian of Imola, Martyr

Biography of St. Cassian of Imola, Martyr

Died: August 13, 302-303 AD, Imola, Italy

Patron of Imola (Italy), Mexico City, schoolteachers, shorthand-writers, parish clerks

Feast Day, August 13

The Christians of the first few centuries were, for the most part, ordinary people. They lived in a church that came of age in a period of political unrest and religious persecution. The times called for heroism and sanctity. Ordinary people did extraordinary things.

Cassian was such a person. He was a layman and schoolmaster in Imola, a town approximately equidistant between Bologna and Ravenna in northeastern Italy. Tradition says that he was part of the Christian community of Imola. During a persecution, Cassian was turned over to the civil authorities. His martyrdom most likely occurred during the terrible persecutions of Emperor Diocletion in the early 4th Century.  Knowledge and devotion of his martyrdom did not spread through the church until later.

Tradition provides us with the manner of his death: after being found guilty of the “crime” of being a Christian, and steadfastly refusing to sacrifice to idols, Cassian was condemned to death. It seems that the judge had a sadistic streak. Cassian was to be killed by his former students by being stabbed to death with their styli, the metal pens used to inscribe letters on tablets of wax, lead, or wood.  Recent evidence taken from his remains verify this method of execution.  It is believed that the saint suffered for days before finally receiving the crown of martyrdom.

The feast day of St. Cassian has been celebrated on the 13th of August since late in the IV century. In iconography, he is pictured sitting (a traditional pose for a teacher) and holding a book (again, a symbol for a teacher) and a palm branch (a symbol of the victory of martyrdom).  Often, his killers, school-aged children, are depicted, circling him with their instruments of death.

SOURCE : http://stcassianchurchuppermontclair.org/st-cassian-of-imola/


Statue des hl. Kassian an der Fassade des Doms zu St. Jakob in Innsbruck von Hans Andre (um 1950)


St. Cassian of Imola

One day the poet Aurelio Prudencio went to Rome . It is in the early fifth century On his way to the imperial capital stops at the Forum Cornelius, Imola today . Take a heavy heart , because the solution of business, purpose of travel , perhaps depends the security of your future and your family. profoundly Christian spirit , is urged to commend the Redeemer and goes to pray in a church. Kneels before the tomb of the martyr Cassian, whose relics are venerated there, and sinks into deep prayer. A prayer is a count contrite sins and sufferings. When , in tears, he lifts his eyes to heaven , his eye is caught in the contemplation of a painting of vivid colors. We see in him the image of a naked man , covered with wounds and blood, his skin torn by a thousand sites. In a crowd of kids around wield against him exalted school instruments and strive to stab him in the flesh lacerated and stilettos used to write. Moved by this tragic poet pictorial vision , which certainly is a move of its own internal tearing , asked the sexton of the church for its meaning. This , perhaps with the usual indifferent voice , explains that the painting depicts the martyrdom of St. Cassian, and tells the history and details of his death much earlier and witnessed by documents. Concludes by recalling that he subscribes to their pleas if you have any need, because the martyr gives gracious he considers worthy of being heard. Prudencio do so and check the veracity of the words of the clerk, because his business in Rome is resolved satisfactorily. Returning to Spain, composed in honor of St. Cassian, as a votive offering of thanks , a beautiful hymn, which is the ninth of his Peristephanon. It explains the history of his trip to Rome and puts on the lips of the sexton 's story of the martyrdom of Saint. Certainly the words of the sexton , despite the tone of sufficiency that could have, must have been simpler . But a poet Prudentius . It is the most sublime singer of the Christian martyrs. His spirit leaves his take on the wings of god and of his enthusiasm. And it gives us a splendid poetic- dramatic version. Cassian was a school teacher . A stern and effective teacher , according to this interpretation. Teach your children the rudiments of grammar, while a special art : the shorthand , the art of signs to condense in a few words. He is accused of being a Christian . And the occurrence malignant persecutors are putting into the hands of the same children , his disciples, to die tormented by them, and that the instruments of martyrdom are the same as that used to be worth to learn. These circumstances, with all its dramatic, are exploited by the poet to highlight the cruelty of the martyrdom: "Some will throw the fragile tablets and break them in your head , the wood chips, leaving the forehead wound . I hit the bloody cheek with waxed tablets, and small blood wet page to the coup. Other brandishing their punches. .. For some parts is drilled , the martyr of Jesus Christ , for others it is torn , some kneel to the depths of the bowels , others amuse themselves tear the skin . All members, including hands , were a thousand needles, and a thousand drops blood flow at the time of each member. verduguito More cruel was amused to sail on the surface of meat that you kneel down to the bottom of the bowels." The reader is shaken , not so much torment in herself to see them come from whom they come : the children and disciples. But the poet seems carried in the arms of a tragic fire . He delights in picturing the state of mind of the young executioners, imagining a horrible malice filled with an air of sarcasm: "Why are you crying?" asks one, " yourself, teacher, gave us these irons and you put together our hands. Look, I 've done more than return the thousands of letters we get up and crying in your school. No airarte because you have reason to write in your body, you yourself commanded : never be down the stylus in hand. I do not ask you , maestro cheap , holidays we always negabas . Now we like to tap with the style and draw parallels grooves to others, and weaving in the chain dashed lines . You can amend asoplados in long lines tiramira , if I have missed the hand unfaithful. Exercise your authority, you are entitled to punish the guilty if any of your students has been slow in trace his features." Hard to imagine so much treachery in the tender hearts of children. Prudentius seems to have sensed , that's why before has given us explanations for this attitude , as if to justify or at least motivate: "It is known that the master is always intolerable to the young scholar , and that the subjects are always unbearable for the kids ... the kids love it greatly to the same severe master is the scorn of the disciples whom held in harsh discipline . However, despite these reasons , our heart is overwhelmed . And it sings Prudencio , especially here, the horrific cruelty of the martyrdom . Absorbed perhaps only by the impressive realism of the picture, and transported on the wings of its tragic force , there has been more than the pile of multiplying indefinitely pains on the body of the martyr. And around this axis has built in concentric circles , the magical unity of his poem: buy pain scale because some children are angry , children are exacerbated because they feel a black pleasure in revenge for the severity of the teacher. There is no doubt that this provision helps intimate grandeur of the poem, and, consequently, the martyr. But do not be carried away the poet by the desire of exaggeration? First, with regard to children . It is true that in the human heart who long hidden resentments in exceptional cases. It is true that there may exist , which undoubtedly exist in the hearts of children . The image of childhood innocence does not absorb all the creases of shadow. It is likely therefore that in the circumstances of this martyrdom dammed overwhelms the dark forces of goodness all docks . Add to this the pressure exerted by the cheerleader and the strong presence of the court mandate persecutor, and the ease of contamination of the collective fury . But even so , one is reluctant to generalize. Is it possible that all the children were possessed by the diabolical fury , that none of them had even a glimmer of compassion, strength, tears? Second, compared with the same teacher. The image gives us Prudencio St. Cassian as a teacher , is not too severe ? They are full of edges sharply features : "Many times the hard precepts and the stark face had stirred anger and fear their prepubescent children." Of course , sometimes have had to take the seriousness and even punishment. But always? Was it just the giant enemy, stunning to the smallness and inability of the weak children? Do not be differentiated precisely by its quality -minded Christian love, a greater smoothness of the current in the other schools ? Would have exceeded , no doubt, ever , drawn by anger or impatience. Who does not ? And it's so easy in those who rule this outburst of sufficiency, that can not stand being beaten by the insolence or worth of subordinates ! But , no doubt , in times of prayer and humble recognition of sin would have taken the impetus for a sweeter deal , more paternal, more loving. In addition, and above all, we noticed , in the beautiful hymn of Prudentius, that we lack something: the soul of Cassian. The inner attitude of your mind in trance painful martyrdom. The poet , obsessed by the body lacerated by the blood bubbling seething , broken through the skin into a thousand tears , has cheated the source. This rich store hidden in the depths of being, receptacle of all impressions and source of all strength. Only once put into the mouth of Cassian all impressions and source of all strength. "Be brave , I pray , and to overcome the few years with your efforts , that mitigates the ferocity what is lacking in age." But this is not just a piece of mind : the tip of the heroic spirit that beats in the chest of the martyr. And it is used only as a grace note for the exaltation of the external. There must be more. The martyr was bound to see the children . A swarm of angry wasps struggling to cleave in the softness of her flesh the sharp spear of the stings . A confused uproar , a lot of curling hair , a forest of hands , tender hands , agitated , a flaming eyes, thousands of eyes to multiply in this frenetic dance . Also some hands reluctant , hesitant , shyly hiding, and some moist eyes , trembling , frightened, grieving ... And I could not but see in the children to their disciples. Were they the same who was devoting his patience, his knowledge , his life. All there. Would force to scroll through them one by one? That , the complexion bruna , how expressively recited Homer, that other , whose tiny hand was often rebellious teacher guide on the wax tablet , and one that made him spend so patiently until he learned the Greek declensions and it over here, the concentrated , now half the punch wielded in secret , but with deep thuds , and the other , the mischievous red-faced , the worst hit , but not the least wanted , and this little boy , who participated in the killing as a game ... And one and another and another. All waves would pass in quick by the imagination of the teacher , their faces , their souls, their names as known and so often repeated in a thousand different shades. Perhaps the moans that escaped from the lips of the martyr , but names were not students , delivered quietly with an air of surprise, complaint , with palpitations last agridulzura. And this whirl of names and faces, in the prolongation of his agony , had to be to the teacher tormented as a mirror that reflected her life, efforts , hopes , joys, failures. Days filled with the most monotonous routine , moments of desperate sense of futility , gusts of anger or helplessness , minutes nitidísima full of joy, impatience , tears , voices compelling , persuasive words , multiplying through generations of kids who spent their hands as shapeless and out of them with a light on in the front. Everything for this failure lead to the end : being killed slowly by them to which he had striven to educate for righteousness and love. Although it was this indeed a failure? Humanly , indeed. But it was through this torment as Cassian getting their true glory. Because this was not the end , the horrific death and discouraging. The final was beyond the frontier of death in a field that opened with clear horizons of peace. The target that this arrow was directed sore meat was the same God. Only God gave meaning to his death , as he had given meaning to his life. Therefore we can not believe that the soul of Cassian was absent of God in this terrible time. necessarily had to be anchored in Him Every beat of his veins, every groan from his throat , every thought of his mind would be an aspiration and a prayer to the Lord. The same move from their imagination for faces and hands , and names, and days, have their echoes in God. He could not be summarized in a concise synthesis of grace and fervor , of sin and contrition, droughts and efforts, the journey of his life to the Father's house. What about pain? These sharp pains now, which followed one another helter-skelter , leaving no room to breathe, was already a prayer force of blood. Cassian and receive a sense of the Holocaust. And the Redeemer humbly offer as compensation for the trail of shadows , including flashing lights , leave the man on earth. And remember Jesus died on Calvary. That mob of kids in a crazed dance looking for his body suggest that other imposing mass of Jews shouting insults thundered in the ears of the Cross. Those were the people of God. These were the family of the teacher. And , just as Christ prayed to the Father for his executioners , Casiano ask for their children , that God would forgive them , they did not know what they were doing, that he really wanted , that God will cleanse their souls from the deep black crack open for this crime, that transforms , that he gave his own sacrifice for them, that ... And, also like Jesus , he put his spirit into the hands of the Father. A breath ending that was born from the bottom and dragged him into the bosom of God. Not that I wanted to break with life, with this his final failure, as he pulled to the shoulder of the road litter or unpleasant , the tearing of clothing. No. The same failure -which his martyrdom was human failure , " was what he wanted to take , as the last sip of the bitter cup , and with it at the very tip of the lips, go up to God, to the glory which he was inviolable : the Father's heart. And so deliver his soul. Prudencio tells us these beautiful , naive words: "Finally , pity the martyr Christ from heaven , send to untie the bonds of the chest, and cuts off the painful delays and ties of life, leaving all their hiding expedited . The blood, following the paths open vein since his close source, leaving the heart , and soul longing came out all the holes in the fibers of the body shot." Is it so complete and the image of St. Cassian ? The poet Prudentius has described with a masterful sense of realism and dramatic physical torture of the martyr and the children's animosity raging . We have tried to get closer to your soul. It is a bold daring, though rarely as reasonably credible as here. In fact, what we know about Saint Cassian can be reduced to a mere assertions : that was a school teacher , expert in shorthand , who died at the hands of his disciples, and that certainly happened on martyrdom under the persecution of Diocletian (303-304) . But it is lawful for a man 's adventure to understand man. Moreover, human. And when done with respect and justice , despite all risks, gets to the heart of reality with greater precision , perhaps, that a plethora of raw data. In the narrative of history and martyrdom of Saint Cassian Prudencio has also drawn a conclusion. A very simple conclusion , but deliciously comforting : that the martyr 's prayers heard gracious men's troubled heart . For us, after that, we would be sufficient to us rather timidly ventured - course - in the lake inside the human soul, and at a time of such deep resonances , when the waters of being are all shaken by a tremor of full decision. We suffice with this, because it moves , deepens and purifies our own being. And if we are not satisfied with this essential purification , we can still derive a long trail lesson practice. Cassian of Imola was not tormented by having fulfilled its mission of teaching bad , or the rebellion of the children and their relentless desire to murder was a direct blast , but caused by a fire fueled from outside. However, the reality of his death meant to him the wound in the most painful. In his martyrdom there was nothing knew to human satisfaction . What other martyrs gives them a certain aura of land - the heroic victors , with a haughty bearing , upright facing the same challenge to the judges or executioners are here ...- overshadowed . For Cassian, after refusing to sacrifice to idols, and not before a tyrant who rebuke , against whom he said , but their children, their dear students , their fragile children. Against what opposing force strength? It remains only to let go , conquer, destroy, sink. And here's the lesson. The open book of this martyrdom God teaches us how to climb up to him, hurt us in the dearest , sweeping a breath of our most cherished illusions, sink into the appearance of futility, hoisted the flag of our individual failure. And perhaps not all that blood, in the pure vulgarity of anonymity. Although this would not be an excuse for discouragement , but one reason for total determination to fight , while for an active and vital offering. And that until the end. That end is only in God's hands and they always run the hands of God. The relics of St. Cassian is venerated in the cathedral of the Italian town of Imola , which prides itself with its sponsorship. Honored first in a basilica, were taken to the cathedral , recently built in the thirteenth century, and then encased in a lead box and placed under the crypt in the center of the sanctuary, the Cathedral restored in 1704.

References: Catholic.Net

SOURCE : http://aesaintsoftheday.blogspot.ca/2010/08/st-cassian-of-imola.html

Saint Cassian in the parish church of Bula Gherdëina.

Holzgeschnitzte Statue des Hl. Kassian(Vinazer Schule) in der Pfarrkirche von Pufels Gröden. Das Gebäude steht unter Denkmalschutz.


A Patron Saint of Teachers

Mar 3, 2009

On Essays and Letters

“Your total ignorance of that which you profess to teach merits the death penalty. I doubt whether you would know that St. Cassian of Imola was stabbed to death by his students with their styli. His death, a martyr’s honorable one, made him a patron saint of teachers.”

Ignatius Reilly, in John Kennedy Toole’s

A Confederacy of Dunces

As the second semester begins, ’tis well to think of the lot of the teacher. I had not known that there was a “patron saint” of teachers. And if there was one, I presumed, at least for the college and graduate crowd, that it was Thomas Aquinas. But Aquinas, even though he spent a good deal of time dealing with beginners, is usually considered the patron of the more heady philosophical types. We know that Aquinas was not a martyr, even though he died rather young at 49, leaving several unfinished works, including the famous Summa Theologiae.

So, in early 2008, when I returned to Washington after Christmas from California, I wanted a book to read on Alaska Airline Flight No. 6 from LAX to Reagan National. I was at my niece’s who lives some twenty minutes from LAX. Among the books on her shelves, I spotted John Kennedy Toole’s A Confederacy of Dunces, a title from Swift. I began to read this novel last summer but only covered a few pages. My good niece let me have it to read on the five hour flight to D.C. Since the Introduction was by Walker Percy, I figured it would be a pretty good read.

Somewhere over the eastern United States, I came to the passage that I cited above, about St. Cassian of Imola, the patron of teachers. Needless to say, I had not heard of St. Cassian before, at least not this one. As I recall, another Cassian, a medieval abbot, wrote something called The Spiritual Meadow. So I looked up Cassian of Imola (a town near Ravenna) on Google. I found a reference to his Feast Day, August 13, from Butler’s Lives of the Saints.

Cassian comes from the time of Julian the Apostate, in the fourth century or so. It seems that the Emperor had ordered all teachers to take an oath to the local gods, which Cassian, good Christian that he was, refused to do. (Our modern teachers have to take an oath that they will not refer to any gods, pagan or Christian, something known as “cultural evolution.”) Roman soldiers who were Christian had the same problem. It was a local form of swearing loyalty to the state, which was identified with the gods. It seemed like state-supported blasphemy, which it was.

Cassian was evidently a pious professor and refused to make such an oath. Whereupon, the local magistrate promptly decided to make an example of him. Cunning man that he was, the official involved the man’s own students in his punishment. The students, not having finished the course, evidently had no problem with this strange form of justice. Cassian was stripped and tied to a post. From whence, his students, mindful of the man’s punishments for their own scholarly laxities, drew their iron styli, pens used to mark on wax tablets, and stabbed the man to death.

So, here we have it. A Christian teacher was stabbed to death, under orders, by his own students with their own writing instruments in the name of the state for refusing to offer sacrifices to pagan gods. Today we have a more cruel punishment.We do not grant tenure to such stubborn types! But what could be a more graphic example for the scholarly vocation! One shudders to think of the lessons that students may draw from this account of how to deal with teachers!

In recording this remarkable history, the famous Butler, who wrote all their lives, laconically remarks that “There is no record of his (St. Cassian’s) becoming a patron of teachers in spite of his pre-eminent qualifications for the role.” Well, from now on, he is my man. Recently, I decided to forbid computers from being used in my classes. But, so far, I have seen no indication of my good students rising to bludgeon Schall to death with their laptops because he would not let them type letters to their friends during class. Ever since Ignatius Reilly referred to him, I have had a special devotion to St. Cassian of Imola, patron of teachers. It is probably worth noting that the “dunces” to whom Jonathan Swift referred were no doubt all of high academic standing.

* * *

Actually, the patron saint of professors seems to be the late medieval scholar St. John Cantius. But I did discover that there is also a patron saint for “liars and fakes,” for “mediocrity,” for “hand-gunners,” and that even Harry Potter is listed as a patron saint. We academics can piously hope, of course, that a patron saint of teachers or professors is not interchangeable with one for “liars and fakes” or “mediocrity.” The needof an armed professorate sometimes comes up, as the case of the Virginia Tech student killings might intimate, but for the most part we prefer our professors to be “unarmed.”

The flip side of this “unarmed professorship” is Machiavelli’s “unarmed prophet.” The most dangerous people are not necessarily those with guns, but those with odd ideas. Before anyone goes to college or graduate school, he should realize this simple fact. Machiavelli himself was an “unarmed prophet,” much more dangerous in that capacity than he ever would have been, if, following his own advice, he dressed in armor and rode a charger through the streets of Florence, yelling “To Arms, To Arms!”

The second semester of the academic year begins after the Christmas holidays. Most universities are not allowed to use that term “Christmas Holidays,” though they still use the term “Holiday” even though it really means “holy day.” But they may not know that. The theology of it is that you cannot really have a “holiday” if you do not also have a “holy day.”

At the beginning of the second semester, students who are seniors begin to realize that “this is it.” They become a bit nostalgic while, at the same time, furiously interviewing for jobs or applying to law schools. Freshmen are, by now, used to the place. They know where the dining halls are, the library, the class rooms, the ball fields, probably the local bars. They also have met new friends so that they no longer miss home or high school friends quite as much. They have also taken the measure of teachers and have heard the opinions of upperclassmen about the rest.

Sophomores and juniors are probably the best students during this period. They have usually learned to discipline themselves enough to do the work they are expected to accomplish. One of the main impediments to college learning is indeed lack of personal discipline, and even more, lack of what used to be called morals. To learn something, we have to be free to do so. We need especially to be free from ourselves, from the notion that what “I want” is the most important thing about us. The great adventure of learning begins the day we realize that there is something I really would like to know. I like to add, with Aristotle, “really would like to know for its own sake.”

There is a view of college that it is something to “prepare us for employment.” From the time a young student reaches high school, and even worse, college, he is bombarded with the perennial questions, “What do you want to study?” or “What do you want to do with your life to make a living?” Now, I do not disdain such questions. We really need to make a living someday. The image of the “impractical” professor advising the “impractical” student to plan for an “impractical” life is amusing. Student princes who want always to stay in school are likewise worrisome. Actually, if we read Plato, as we will do this semester in my classes, this suspicion about the nuttiness of academics is generally the common man’s view of what goes on in college.

The other, greater, danger in college is ideology. Almost every other talk of the Holy Father mentions “relativism.” The pope is an academic man and knows of what he speaks. Christopher Derrick once spent a year at Thomas Aquinas College in its early days. He went home and wrote a book, which is now republished by Ignatius Press, with the marvelous title: Escape from Scepticism: Liberal Education as if the Truth Really Mattered. That title pretty much says it all. I am a great admirer of good titles.

This title is mindful of the remark that Allan Bloom made in his Closing of the American Mind that every professor, when entering any classroom in the “best” universities, can assume that all the students before him are already relativists. Actually, I have found over the years with my students, and I have had many, that they are tempted both by relativism and by truth. They are likely already to know the case for the former, but are surprised and often pleased if a case for the latter can be made, which it can. This latter is why the reading of Aristotle is so important. He is the one that tells us, in the most laconic way possible, that our problem with what is, with what is true, is not just a question of knowledge. It begins in the question of how we live, with virtue.

* * *

Thus, to go back to the second semester, to students who are probably ready to return from their homes, with a faint realization already that they have already left their father’s home, not in the sense that they are not welcome there, but in the sense they have to find their own way in the world. Wendell Berry often points out what a dangerous thing it is for a family today to send a child to college. Jennifer Roback Morse’s lecture “Toward Organic Feminism,” which she gave at the Newman Club at the University of Colorado, spells out much the same thing. Her books, Love and Economics and Smart Sex are not to be missed. But I mention these sources here to remind us that we belong to a heritage that takes a real family—husband, wife, children—seriously and that understands that intelligence is also what the faith is about.

Second semester at Georgetown is basketball season, lacrosse season, baseball season, track season, rowing and sailing season. At Boston College and the University of North Dakota, where I was last fall, it is hockey season. I remember early last semester I ran into a young girl on campus who was in one of my classes. She was on some team, field hockey, I think, or soccer. I asked her how many hours the coach expected of her each day. “Something like three or four.” I said to her, with some envy, “I wish professors could demand such hours!”

But let me conclude with this point. Students are not in college to “prepare” for some technique or craft, even the medical or legal crafts. In a sense, as the pope implied in the Regensburg Lecture, they are here for no purpose at all but to know, and know the truth on the grounds which truth can be known. We have on this campus about 20 outside lectures a day from national and international figures. These are distractions, for the most part. Students are not here this time of their lives to find out about current events. And if that is what they do while in the university, that is all they will know. They will have missed the important things while pursuing the ephemeral ones.

Now I am not opposed to “ephemeral” things. This is largely what my book, The Sum Total of Human Happiness, was about. The whole is in the part. But we need time and space to find it. We need conversation and purpose. We need to read, but to read what tells us the truth. We need what Aristotle called theorein, to contemplate.

But before we can do this, to go back to the “greatest game ever played,” we have to find that spark in our soul that knows the relation between what we can and cannot do in this world. We need to put the world in its proper place, and us in it and beyond it. We need to have a taste for the transcendent. We need really to acknowledge that we have restless hearts and souls and why. No undergraduate on leaving school in the springtime is really old enough to know fully what goes on within him. Plato, who insisted on this point, was right here.

Still, and this is what makes undergraduate teaching one of the great human adventures, minds become alert before your very eyes. Souls long. Nothing less than the truth will satisfy. This life is not enough, but it is where we all begin because it is where we are.

A student gave me a copy of David Michaelis’s Schulz and Peanuts for Christmas. As Ioften do, I find ultimate things in Charlie Brown. On page 192, there is an early cartoon. It shows Schroeder and Charlie sitting on a stoop. Schroeder says, “Guess what I am whistling, Charlie Brown.” He then proceeds to whistle something, with the musical notation conveniently given in the cartoon.

After listening, Charlie replies, “‘Old Black Joe,’ ‘Take Me Out to the Ball Game,’ ‘Home on the Range’?” Rather annoyed, Schroeder replies to a perplexed Charlie, “Nope, it was the last half of the tenth measure of Sinding’s Op. 32, N. 9 . . .” To this information, Charlie simply says, “Y’know, I almost said that. I don’t know why I didn’t.”

Of course, we all, including Schroeder and Charlie himself, know Charlie did not have a clue about what this music was. Nor did I when I read the cartoon. Christian Sinding, it turns out, was a Norwegian composer who died in 1949. I had to look it up myself, as I thought “Sinding” was a misprint. I have never heard his Opus 32, but I am sure my friend Robert Reilly has and will send me a disc of it on request.

But this is the point I want to make here. College is to be what it is, a “liberal,” that is, “freeing,” education And education means that we seek to know (and see and hear and taste and feel) what is. To do this, we must free ourselves. And we free ourselves by encountering the myriads of particular things amid which we live and whose ultimate cause of being we wonder about.

One does not come to college to learn something, unless he comes to learn everything. That is its real adventure and the only real justification for freeing ourselves for four years from the busy things that storm about us from every side and for which alone we are told, falsely, that we exist. We cannot, in the end, help but wonder whether Charlie enjoyed the music even if he knew what it was. It is not a sin both to enjoy it and know who wrote it. This is what second semester is about.

Saint Cassian of Imola, Pray for Us.

James V. Schall, S.J. is professor of government at Georgetown University. This piece was originally published online at Ignatius Insight on January 7, 2008.

SOURCE : https://kirkcenter.org/schall/a-patron-saint-of-teachers/

Saint Cassian, église Notre-Dame, Säben Abbey, Tyrol (Liebfrauenkirche auf Säben| in Südtirol)


San Cassiano di Imola Martire

13 agosto

Martirologio Romano: A Imola in Romagna, san Cassiano, martire, che, per essersi rifiutato di adorare gli idoli, fu consegnato ai ragazzi di cui era stato maestro, perché lo torturassero a morte con i calami: in tal modo, quanto più debole era la mano, tanto più dolorosa diveniva la pena del martirio.

Le notizie più antiche su Cassiano sono riferite da Prudenzio, nei primi anni del V secolo. Nel suo viaggio verso Roma, Prudenzio si ferma a Forum Cornelii (Imola) e venerò le spoglie del martire, custodite in un sarcofago al di sopra del quale erano raffigurati alcuni episodi del martirio. Non si conosce l’anno del martirio né la pena subita. Non è considerata attendibile la versione tramandata da Prudenzio, secondo il quale Cassiano, che esercitava la professione di insegnate, sarebbe stato condannato ad essere ucciso dai suoi stessi allievi con gli stiletti usati per incidere le loro tavolette.

Se fosse vera questa tradizione bisognerebbe pensare ad un martirio subito non ad opera di un magistrato romano, ma nell’ambito di sommosse popolari. Il culto si estese anche a Milano intorno al 450 e in Tirolo, mentre una raffigurazione del santo è presente a Ravenna, in Sant’Apollinare Nuovo.
Nel corso del XII secolo si diffonde un leggenda che fa del Santo l’apostolo di Sabiona, in Tirolo, esiliato a Imola dai pagani, ove subì il martirio narrato da Prudenzio. A Imola la leggenda subisce un’ulteriore corruzione e Cassiano risultò vescovo della città. 

Agnello (sec. IX) ricorda che sopra la tomba del Santo fu costruita la prima Cattedrale situata fuori dalla città, attorniata da altre costruzioni fino a formare un fortilizio, a cui venne dato il nome di castrum sancti Cassiani. Nel sec. XIII il castrum venne raso al suolo e le reliquie trasferite nella nuova Cattedrale.

SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/91782

Amico Aspertini (1474–1552). San Cassiano, vers 1540, 34 x 38, Pinacoteca di Brera


San Cassiano di Imola Martire

13 agosto

240 circa - 303/305

Le notizie più antiche su Cassiano sono riferite da Prudenzio, nei primi anni del V secolo. Nel suo viaggio verso Roma, Prudenzio si ferma a Forum Cornelii (Imola) e venerò le spoglie del martire, custodite in un sarcofago al di sopra del quale erano raffigurati alcuni episodi del martirio. Non si conosce l’anno del martirio né la pena subita. Non è considerata attendibile la versione tramandata da Prudenzio, secondo il quale Cassiano, che esercitava la professione di insegnate, sarebbe stato condannato ad essere ucciso dai suoi stessi allievi con gli stiletti usati per incidere le loro tavolette. Se fosse vera questa tradizione bisognerebbe pensare ad un martirio subito non ad opera di un magistrato romano, ma nell’ambito di sommosse popolari. Il culto si estese anche a Milano intorno al 450 e in Tirolo, mentre una raffigurazione del santo è presente a Ravenna, in Sant’Apollinare Nuovo. Nel corso del XII secolo si diffonde un leggenda che fa del Santo l’apostolo di Sabiona, in Tirolo, esiliato a Imola dai pagani, ove subì il martirio narrato da Prudenzio. A Imola la leggenda subisce un’ulteriore corruzione e Cassiano risultò vescovo della città. Agnello (sec. IX) ricorda che sopra la tomba del Santo fu costruita la prima Cattedrale situata fuori dalla città, attorniata da altre costruzioni fino a formare un fortilizio, a cui venne dato il nome di castrum sancti Cassiani. Nel sec. XIII il castrum venne raso al suolo e le reliquie trasferite nella nuova Cattedrale. Nella forma extra-ordinaria del rito romano San Cassiano è commemorato insieme a Sant'Ippolito il 13 agosto.

Patronato: Imola, Bressanone, Comacchio, San Casciano in Val Pesa, San Casciano dei Bagni, San Cassiano a Vico, San Cassiano di Controne e San Cassiano di Moriano

Emblema: Palma

Martirologio Romano: A Imola in Romagna, san Cassiano, martire, che, per essersi rifiutato di adorare gli idoli, fu consegnato ai ragazzi di cui era stato maestro, perché lo torturassero a morte con i calami: in tal modo, quanto più debole era la mano, tanto più dolorosa diveniva la pena del martirio.

Stabilitosi a Forum Corneli, l'odierna Imola, vi insegnò grammatica e letteratura. Impartì ad alcuni suoi allievi anche lezioni di ars notoria, la moderna stenografia. Educatore della gioventù, non rinunciò a comunicare la fede cristiana ai discenti. Alcuni cittadini lo denunciarono al Prefetto come "autore di una nuova religione". Processato, gli fu ordinato di rinunciare al proprio credo e di sacrificare agli dei della religione romana. Cassiano rifiutò e fu condannato a morte. Il giudice impose ai suoi studenti, come pena per averlo ascoltato, di eseguire la condanna.

Il martirio di San Cassiano si colloca probabilmente al tempo della persecuzione dei cristiani ordinata dall'imperatore Diocleziano (febbraio 303 - marzo 305). Per lunghi secoli si è pensato che il racconto del martirio fosse una tradizione popolare; tuttavia, recenti studi, promossi nell'ambito dell'Anno Cassianeo, compiuti da diverse équipe statunitensi ed europee, hanno dimostrato che i fori che si trovano nel cranio del martire sono compatibili con le dimensioni degli stili con cui all'epoca gli studenti incidevano le tavole di cera e con cui sarebbe stato compiuto il martirio.

Le spoglie del martire furono sepolte nella necropoli romana.[5] Quando il cristianesimo divenne religio licita (Editto di Milano, 313) nel luogo della sepoltura fu eretto un sepolcro in sua memoria. Nel V secolo nello stesso sito fu costruita una basilica intitolata al santo, che divenne la residenza del vescovo d'Imola.

Andrea Agnello, storico ravennate del IX secolo, ricorda che la basilica fu eretta fuori città, secondo le usanze della cristianità antica, verso ponente, nella località oggi chiamata Croce Coperta. Attorno ad essa furono innalzate altre costruzioni, tra le quali l'abitazione del vescovo e quella dei canonici che, assieme ad altri fabbricati, costituirono una specie di fortilizio, a cui venne dato il nome di Castrum sancti Cassiani.

Nel 1175 il castrum fu raso al suolo e le reliquie del martire, riportate all'interno della città, furono collocate nella cripta del Duomo di Imola a lui dedicato, dove si trovano tuttora.

Le notizie più antiche sono riferite dal poeta latino Prudenzio, all'inizio del V secolo (Peristephanon, IX). Nel suo viaggio verso Roma, Prudenzio si fermò a Forum Cornelii. Durante una visita ai luoghi sacri della città racconta di aver visto una pittura raffigurante un uomo nudo circondato da ragazzi che infierivano contro di lui con degli stili; il custode del luogo gli spiegò che si trattava del martire Cassiano. Prudenzio venerò le spoglie del martire, custodite in un sarcofago al di sopra del quale erano raffigurati alcuni episodi del suo martirio. Nella sua celebre raccolta di poesie dedicò i seguenti versetti a Cassiano martire:

«Sylla Forum statuit Cornelius; hoc Itali urbem

uocant ab ipso conditoris nomine.

Hic mihi, cum peterem te, rerum maxima Roma,

spes est oborta prosperum Christum fore.

Stratus humi tumulo aduoluebar, quem sacer ornat

martyr dicato Cassianus corpore.»

(Prudenzio, Peristephanon, carme IX.)

Nel secolo XI un anonimo tirolese scrisse una Vita et gesta Cassiani, Ingenuini et Albuini episcoporum, in cui Cassiano era descritto come l'apostolo di Sabiona che, catturato dai pagani ed esiliato ad Imola, vi fu costretto ad esercitare la professione di maestro di scuola e vi subì il martirio narrato da Prudenzio.

Di Cassiano rimangono due gruppi di passiones (martirii), l'uno dipendente in tutto da Prudenzio, l'altro dai Gesta Sancti Cassiani, Ingenuini et Albuini (Bibliotheca hagiographica latina 241, 1627, 4273).

L'opera agiografica più recente sul santo imolese è Divo Cassiano - il culto del santo martire patrono di Imola, Bressanone e Comacchio, Diocesi di Imola, 2004.

Il luogo del martirio di Cassiano divenne meta di pellegrinaggio sin dall'antichità. Si ritiene che sul luogo di sepoltura di San Cassiano sia stata edificata una chiesa già tra IV e V secolo. Il sepolcro fu visitato da Prudenzio agli inizi del V secolo. La Chiesa fissò il giorno di commemorazione del santo al 13 agosto.

San Pietro Crisologo († 450), vescovo di Ravenna, ebbe una particolare devozione verso il martire suo conterraneo, tanto da desiderare di essere sepolto vicino alle sue spoglie. L'immagine di san Cassiano fu raffigurata a Ravenna nella cappella detta di San Crisologo e nella teoria dei santi in Sant'Apollinare Nuovo. Da Ravenna la devozione si diffuse dapprima a Comacchio, poi si espanse nelle regioni a nord del Po lungo i territori rimasti sotto la dominazione bizantina, sottratti all'espansione longobarda. Intorno alla metà del V secolo il culto di San Cassiano è attestato anche a Milano. Papa Simmaco (498-514) dedicò in onore di Cassiano un altare a Roma, nel mausoleo a sinistra della basilica di San Pietro, trasformato nella chiesa di Sant'Andrea. A Pavia il vescovo Ennodio, nel VI secolo ripose sue reliquie in una chiesa della città.

Nell'Italia alpina, il culto di San Cassiano, una volta radicatosi, si è conservato fino ad oggi. In Tirolo Cassiano fu oggetto di un culto speciale, tanto che gli fu dedicata la cattedrale; quando nel X secolo la sede episcopale fu trasferita a Bressanone, il nuovo Duomo di Bressanone fu dedicato a San Cassiano e a Sant'Ingenuino. Una chiesa intitolata a San Cassiano si trova anche a Percha, in val Pusteria e a Zone, nelle Prealpi Lombarde. Inoltre va segnalato l'Eremo di San Cassiano a Lumignano di Longare (VI). Al di là delle Alpi, esiste un'antica chiesa dedicata a San Cassiano ad Innsbruck (Austria) ed a Ratisbona (Baviera).

Il 13 agosto 1577 nacque l'usanza di portare in processione dal Duomo fino alla chiesa di Croce Coperta (vicino al luogo in cui avvenne il martirio del santo) il suo reliquiario. Tale tradizione fu abrogata nel 1914 dal vescovo Paolino Tribbioli.

Dal 1712 esce a Bressanone ogni anno il St. Kassian Kalender, un calendario di oltre 400 pagine che raccoglie informazioni storiche, ma anche ricette, poesie e informazioni sul territorio, con l'obiettivo di «promuovere la venerazione a San Cassiano, presentato come maestro e patrono degli educatori, e in genere la devozione popolare».

Le reliquie principali del santo sono il braccio e la colonna su cui fu martirizzato.

Nel 1085 fu rinvenuta per caso a Imola una colonna in un terreno: su di essa furono trovate tracce del sangue del santo. A pochi metri dal luogo vi era il pretorio dove fu ucciso Cassiano. La reliquia fu conservata per secoli nella chiesa parrocchiale dei Santi Bartolomeo e Cassiano in Croce Coperta di Imola, nel cui territorio si trovava il luogo del rinvenimento. Tra il 1400 e il 1410 fu realizzato il reliquiario contenente il braccio, in argento inciso e rame dorato, realizzato da Jacopo di Michele, conservato nel Duomo di Imola. Sul reliquiario sono incisi: gli stemmi di Lippo Alidosi (figlio di Bertrando) e della casa Alidosi, il martirio del santo e la preghiera di san Pier Crisologo.

Nel 1684 quattro frammenti della colonna furono inviati a Bressanone.

L'ultima ricognizione delle reliquie del santo è stata effettuata il 13 maggio 2003. 

SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/91782

Donauwörth, Heilig-Kreuz-Straße 17, Pfarrkirche Hl.Kreuz, Kirchhof: Cölestrin-Kapelle; hier: Fenster nach Süden


Den hellige Kassian av Imola (~240-~304)

Minnedag: 13. august

Skytshelgen for Brixen og for bispedømmet Bozen-Brixen/Bolzano-Bressanone (sammen med Vigilius); viktigste skytshelgen for bispedømmet Imola, medskytshelgen for erkebispedømmet Ferrara-Comacchio; for Macherio og Trecate i Lombardia; for oppdragere, lærere og elever; for stenografer (1952); i nød

Den hellige Kassian (Cassian; it: Cassiano; lat: Cassianus) ble født rundt 240 i Roma. Han døde som martyr i Imola (Forum Cornelii) i provinsen Bologna mellom Bologna og Ravenna i regionen Emilia Romagna i Nord-Italia, sannsynligvis rundt år 304 i forfølgelsene fra februar 303 til mars 305 under keiser Diokletian (284-305), og der befinner hans grav seg. Det er ingen tvil om at det var en tidlig martyr ved navn Kassian i Imola, men hans tradisjonelle biografi virker tvilsom.

Martyrologium Romanum forteller at Kassian var en kristen lærer i Imola som lærte guttene grammatikk og litteratur. Han underviste dem i de hedenske klassikerne, men han passet også på å få med den kristne lære, noe de hedenske foreldrene reagerte på. Han ga også noen gutter leksjoner i ars notoria, den moderne stenografi. Under en voldsom kristenforfølgelse ble han arrestert og forhørt av provinsguvernøren. Han nektet å ofre til gudene, og da pønsket guvernøren ut en passende straff. Kassian ble kledd naken og bundet ved en marmorsøyle foran to hundre hedenske gutter «som mislikte ham fordi han hadde vært læreren deres».

De fikk nå anledning til å gjøre hva de ville med sin forhatte lærer. Noen kastet tavler, penner og kniver mot ansiktet hans, og andre stakk ham med sine jerngrifler, redskapene de brukte for å skrive på vokstavler. Andre brukte kniver og skar ut bokstaver i ham. Ettersom guttene hadde små krefter, ble Kassians lidelser forlenget langt ut over det vanlige og det tok lang tid før han døde. Han viste imidlertid sin villighet til å dø for Kristus ved å oppmuntre guttene.

Samme dødsmåte opptrer i legendene til tre andre martyrer, den mest kjente er Markus av Arethusa i Syria på 300-tallet. Kristne gravla Kassian i en storslagen grav i Imola. Over hans grav ble byens første katedral bygd på 1000-tallet, og den bærer fortsatt navnet San Cassiano. Den salige pave Pius IX (1846-78), som var biskop av Imola før han ble valgt til pave, utsmykket Kassians mausoleum med marmor.

De eldste rapportene om Kassian er fra tidlig på 400-tallet av den betydeligste tidlige vestlige kristne dikteren Prudentius (348-ca 405). På sin reise til Roma stanset Prudentius i Forum Cornelii (Imola) og æret levningene av martyren, som var bevart i en sarkofag som på toppen hadde avbildninger av noen episoder fra hans martyrium. Legenden over er en prosaversjon av et dikt av Prudentius. I hans verk Peri stephanon («Om seierskransen») skildrer Prudentius lidelsen og kulten til ulike tidlige kristne martyrer, blant dem Kassian.

Ifølge en biografi (Vita), som trolig ble skrevet av en kannik i Brixen rundt 1240, var Kassian den første biskopen av Sabiona, det senere Säben (it: Sabiona) ved Chiusa/Klausen i Südtirol, det tyskspråklige området i Nord-Italia. Det  var det daværende setet for bispedømmet Brixen (Brixinum). Etter å ha blitt fordrevet derfra skal han ha forkynt evangeliet i Bayern. Ennå i dag finnes i klosteret Säben det såkalte Kassinsturm, hvor han var fanget. Ettersom begge de to andre skytshelgenene for bispedømmet, de hellige Ingenuin og Albuin, var biskoper, har man åpenbart ment at også Kassian må ha vært biskop, og da han var den eldste av de tre, ble bispedømmets grunnleggelse tilskrevet ham. Han skal ha blitt bispeviet av biskopen av Aquileia.

På 1000-tallet skrev en anonym tyroler Vita et gesta Cassiani, Ingenuini et Albuini episcoporum, hvor Kassian ble beskrevet som Sabionas apostel, fanget av hedninger og sendt i eksil til Imola, hvor han ble nødt til å praktisere som lærer på en skole og der led martyrdøden som fortalt av Prudentius. Brixen er nå Bressanone/Brixen i provinsen Bolzano/Bozen i regionen Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol mens bispedømmet er Bolzano-Bressanone/Bozen-Brixen (lat: Bauzanensis-Brixinensis).

Han skal ha vendt tilbake til Säben og lidd martyrdøden der, i alle fall var han i 845 skytshelgen for katedralen der. De første relikviene av Kassian dukket opp i Brixen på 1300-tallet. I 1685 mottok fyrstebiskop Paulinus Mayr (1677-85) en liten relikvie av Kassian. I 1704 ble en armrelikvie overført til domkirken i Brixen og til fyrstebiskop Kaspar Ignatz von Künigl. Byen Regensburg har en Kassianskirke. I andre legender tilskrives Kassian bispesetene i Todi og Benevento.

De viktigste relikviene av helgenen er armen og den søylen som han led martyrdøden ved. I 1085 ble det ved en tilfeldighet funnet en søyle på et jordstykke. På den ble det funnet spor av helgenens blod. Dette var noen få meter fra det praetoriet hvor Kassian ble drept og på jord som tilhørte sognekirken Croce coperta («Det dekkede korset»), som fortsatt eksisterer. Der ble relikvien bevart i århundrer. I 1684 ble fire fragmenter av kolonnen sendt til Bressanone. Den siste undersøkelsen av relikvier av helgenen ble gjennomført den 13. mai 2003.

Den hellige motpave Hippolyt har vært feiret den 13. august siden på 200-tallet. Den hellige pave Pontian ble først feiret sammen med ham. På 400-tallet ble Kassians fest slått sammen med den hellige motpave Hippolyts den 13. august. På 700-tallet ble Pontians fest lagt til 19. november, men i dag feires Hippolyt og Pontian igjen sammen den 13. august. Kassian feires fortsatt samme dag, men ved kalenderrevisjonen i 1969 ble hans fest strøket i Kirkens universalkalender og henvist til lokale eller spesielle kalendere. I bispedømmet Bozen-Brixen feires hans fest som høytid på lørdag tyve dager etter påske. I bispedømmet feires også hans translasjonsfest den 3. desember.

Kassian er skytshelgen for oppdragere, lærere og elever og for stenografer fra 1952, og i all i nød. Sammen med Vigilius er han skytshelgen for bispedømmet Bolzano-Bressanone (Bozen-Brixen). Han er også viktigste skytshelgen for bispedømmet Imola og medskytshelgen for erkebispedømmet Ferrara-Comacchio. I dag er Kassian også skytshelgen for Macherio i provinsen Monza e Brianza i regionen Lombardia i Nord-Italia og for den lille byen Trecate ved elven Ticino i provinsen Novara i Lombardia. Kassian fremstilles ofte som biskop, eller avkledt og bundet til en marmorsøyle, som attributter har han skrivegrifler, skrivetavler og skoleutstyr, ofte også bispestav og bok.

I Østkirken er det en kjent legende om Kassians møte etter døden med den hellige Nikolas av Myra (ca 280-ca 345). Da Nikolas var avgått ved døden, steg hans sjel opp til himmelen ikledd en slik skinnende hvit kappe som man ser helgener avbildet med i de østlige kirkene. På veien oppover sluttet en sjel seg til ham, og det var en martyr skal man dømme etter den dype røde fargen på den kappen han var ikledd. Selvfølgelig begynte de å snakke sammen: «Jeg er Nikolas av Myra, jeg var en biskop og har gjort mye for barn og fattige». «Ganske bra», sa den andre, «jeg er Kassian av Imola – som er en liten by i nærheten av Napoli [dette stemmer ikke]. Jeg var skolemester. Men mine studenter drepte meg da det kom ut at jeg var en kristen». Nå var Nikolas’ nysgjerrighet vekket – han som elsket barn... «Men hvordan gikk det til?»

Kassian fortalte sin historie. Han var som skolemester svært glad i gode manerer, og slik som han selv alltid var preparert inntil perfeksjon, krevde han det samme av sine studenter. Han var spesielt opptatt av omsorgen for sitt arbeid. Han lot det vel noen ganger ta overtaket, og det kom frem at han brukte sterke midler som fysisk avstraffelse. Og det ble ikke alltid verdsatt av alle. I alle fall da foreldrene til hans elever under forfølgelsene oppdaget at han var en kristen, de hisset da opp sine barn til å drepe sin skolemester med sine spissede gåsefjær ... noe de var bare altfor glade for å kunne gjøre. Kassian var derfor ikke litt stolt av den vakre kappen som hans sjel var kledd i. «Og du, min herre? Fortell meg nå...» Mens de slik snakket så hyggelig sammen, fløy deres sjeler til himmelen...

Inntil de hørte rop fra dypt der nede: «Nikolas av Myra, Nikolas av Myra, hjelp meg, hjelp meg!» Et sted i Russland de så en bonde med sin vogn bli sittende fast i gjørmen. Akselen var ødelagt, vognen veltet, og bonden satt der med sin ynkelige frukt som han hadde ønsket å selge på markedet, og nå ropte mannen i sin nød til St Nikolas. Med et nikk og et sukk av lettelse sa Kassian: «Det er til deg». «Jeg vil ta en titt», sa Nikolas, «bare dra videre, jeg ser deg senere». Mens Kassian fortsatte sin reise, fløy Nikolas ned igjen, fikk reist opp vognen og krøp under den for å reparere akselen og sette på hjulet. Med ermet på sin vakre, hvite kappe gned han det kullet som den stakkars bonden skulle bringe til markedet, slik at det skinte bedre enn noensinne og så ut til å være av første klasse. Deretter sa han til den fattige bonden: «Få en god pris for det, slik at du kan ta med noe ekstra til dine barn og din kone. Gå i fred». Etter å ha gitt ham velsignelsen, fløy han til himmelen.

Da han endelig kom til himmelens porter, sto Kassian til hans forbauselse fortsatt der. «Kommer du ikke inn?» Kassian prøvde å skjule den motbydelige stanken som kom fra hans kollega, og med et silketørkle lot han som om han måtte tørke nesen: «Nei, jeg måtte vente her». Samtidig svingte perleporten opp og under trompeter og høy musikk kom en prosesjon av engler, helgener, martyrer, bekjennerne og jomfruer ut. I sin midte bar de en tom bærestol, hvor Nikolas deretter ble invitert til å ta plass. Kassian måtte gå bak. Det ble for mye for den hellige martyren: «Hvorfor skal jeg gå bakerst mens Nikolas får sitte i en bærestol når han ikke engang er martyr? Jeg har bevart min kappe ren og uberørt helt til nå, og du må da se hvordan han ser ut!» Han ble fortalt: «Du ser gjørmen og skitten på kappen hans?» Han svarte med en bryskt nikk. «Det er bare et tegn på hans hellighet...»

Legenden forklarer hvorfor Nikolas har fire fester i året (dødsdag, translasjon, kirkevigsel og votivfest), mens Kassian den 29. februar bare feires en gang hvert fjerde år. [Hans festdag i Østkirken er nemlig skuddårsdagen 29. februar.]

Kilder: Attwater/John, Attwater/Cumming, Butler (VIII), Benedictines, Bunson, Schauber/Schindler, Melchers, CSO, Patron Saints SQPN, Infocatho, Bautz, Heiligenlexikon, santiebeati.it, it.wikipedia.org, zeno.org, heiligen-3s.nl - Kompilasjon og oversettelse: p. Per Einar Odden

SOURCE : http://www.katolsk.no/biografier/historisk/cassianu

Voir aussi https://www.touteslesprieres.com/priere-1346-invocation-a-saint-cassien-d-imola-pour-adoucir-le-caractere-brutal-et-cruel-des-enfants-contre-le-refroidissement-des-membres.html