Caesarius of Africa

Saint Caesarius of Africa was born in North Africa, and served the Church as a deacon. After a shipwreck brought him to Terracina on Italy’s coast during the reign of Emperor Trajan, he devoted himself to preaching the Gospel, especially to the poor. There he confronted a horrific pagan rite meant to secure the empire’s “salvation”: each year a young man was lavishly indulged and then compelled to ride a horse from the cliff to his death as an offering to Apollo. Caesarius denounced this bloodshed with fearless charity, and for refusing to sacrifice to idols he was arrested and tried. Tradition holds that his prayer brought down Apollo’s temple, and that his steadfast witness moved the consul Leontius to seek baptism. Finally, Caesarius and a local priest, Julian, were bound in a sack and cast into the sea from the cliff at Pisco Montano, dying as martyrs and later being reverently buried near Terracina. Venerated in both East and West, he is invoked against drowning and floods and is honored as a protector in places that bear his name. His feast day is November 1.