Saint Victorius of Caesarea

Victorius is the only saint to bear this name, and his is an interesting case of how memory works. He appears in the Hieronymian Martyrology on May 21, together with two other martyrs, Polyeuctus and Donatus. From there his name passed into the Roman Martyrology — but without anyone ever having written his story. No life of him has survived: only a name, a date and two companions. Tradition says he was a soldier in the Roman army who came into contact with Christianity and converted, and that he was killed in Caesarea in Cappadocia together with Polyeuctus and Donatus. When, no one knows: some suggest under Trajan, others under Diocletian. Two centuries apart. His name has often been confused with those of saints with almost the same name, Victor above all, who are different people — the risk with all names that mean the same thing in a language that declined them in ten different ways. In 1703 his remains were brought from the catacomb of Calepodius to the friary church of Sant’Antonio al Monte, in Rieti, where they can still be seen under the high altar. If your name is Vittorio, today is your name day.