Cassian

CASSIAN: A martyr whose death is described by Prudentius in the ninth hymn of his Peristephanon. The poet says that he saw the martyr's grave at Forum Cornelii (Imola), with a picture of him, and that the custodian related that Cassian had been stabbed by his own pupils with their styli and otherwise cruelly handled. Gregory of Tours gives substantially the same account. The Martyrologium Hieronymianum names Aug. 11 as the day of his death. The fact of his martyrdom at Forum Cornelii need not be doubted, but the manner related by Prudentius is improbable, and it is impossible to fix the date.

(A. Hauck.)