Saint Placidus

Placidus (died Trasacco, August 31, 237) was a Roman priest, venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church. Of the life of Placidus, not to be confused with his - and much more illustrious - namesake venerated in Messina, we know practically nothing, except that he was a Christian priest who lived in the 3rd century. There are, however, medieval legends drawn from an hagiographic account inserted into the Martyrologium Hieronymianum that identify him as one of the two favourite disciples of Benedict of Nursia along with Maurus. This account narrates of other saints commemorated on October 5 who, despite belonging to different places, were all allegedly killed in Messina in the 6th century, during a pirate raid, erroneously mistaken for Arabs by Peter the Deacon in his Vita Placidi. Therefore, to trace the causes of his martyrdom, we must refer to the sacrifice of the priest Cesidius, originally from Trasacco, and inserted into the Roman Martyrology in 1583. The editor of the entry was Cardinal Cesare Baronio, due to the interest of Father Camillo, whose wife Porzia Febonia and the historian's mother was from Trasacco. The Roman Martyrology indicates the death of the priest Cesidius on August 31, along with other Christians near the basin of Lake Fucino, based on the narrative derived, probably, from a Latin passio of the Acts of Saint Christopher and according to which the three priests, Cesidius, Placidus, and Eutychius (but practically nothing is known of the latter), fell victim to the persecutions ordered by the Emperor Maximinus Thrax. The three religious men were killed during a mass in Trasacco, where the Bishop of Assisi Rufinus, who was also Cesidius' father, had founded a church entrusted to his own son, which was later destroyed in 936 due to an incursion by the Magyars and rebuilt under the name of the "Cesidio and Rufino Saints" church. An unspecified number of Christians perished with them.