Cassius of Narni

Cassius was bishop of Narni in Umbria from 537 or 536 until his death in 558. He is venerated as a saint and commemorated on 29 June. Saint Gregory the Great praised him for his charity.

Cassius celebrated Mass daily at the tomb of his predecessor, Saint Juvenal of Narni, on whom he tried to pattern himself. He was married, to a woman named Fausta, but according to one source he left her and set out on the path of monastic life. On 19 October 536 he was made bishop at Narni.

On the feast of the holy apostles Peter and Paul, when he went every year to Rome, after he had celebrated the holy mysteries in his city and given communion to all, he died. The sources do not agree on the place: according to one he died at Narni, according to another at Rome, on pilgrimage, on 29 June 558.

In 878 the relics of Cassius were taken to the basilica of San Frediano in Lucca, together with those of Saint Juvenal and of Fausta, Cassius' wife, by Adalbert, margrave of Tuscany. Two years later all the relics were returned to Narni. The relics of Cassius were placed in a restored shrine, later known as the Sacello di San Cassio. The relics of Juvenal are said to have been hidden.