Augustus of Calatia

Holy Hierarch Augustus of Calatia was a bishop, originally from North Africa, who reposed around 490 at Maddaloni in Campania. He is also called Saint Augustus of Caserta. The Roman Martyrology commemorates him on 1 September, together with twelve other bishops with whom he is linked.

The legend says that the Vandal king Genseric put him, together with Castrensis of Volturnum, Priscus of Capua, Tammarus of Benevento, Rosius, Heraclius, Secundinus, Adiutor, Elpidius of Atella, Canius and Vindonius, on an old ship without sails or oars so that they would perish at sea. Favorable winds, however, carried them to the shore in Campania, and the bishops settled in various cities of southern Italy, sometimes founding dioceses. Augustus stopped at Calatia, where he is believed to have founded the diocese in the year 439.

Historians now regard the story as a legend, as Tillemont and Ruinart suspected and as Lanzoni showed; it seems to have arisen in the 12th century, taking the history of Bishop Quodvultdeus and applying it to saints already venerated locally in Campania. He is honored as a saint of the undivided Church.