{{short description|Italian Roman Catholic saint}}
[[File:Interior of St. Raphael's Cathedral, Dubuque 02.jpg|right|thumb|300px|The main altar at St. Raphael's Cathedral, Dubuque, Iowa. Contained within the altar is the box containing the remains of Saint Cessianus.]]
'''Cessianus''' ({{circa|295}} – 303) was an early Christian saint and martyr. At the age of eight, he was martyred during the persecutions of the Roman emperor Diocletian in 303.
==History== Pope Gregory XVI presented Bishop Mathias Loras with the remains of Cessianus in 1838. Loras brought the remains with him to the United States.<ref name=Craughwell>{{cite news|url=http://www.ncregister.com/blog/tcraughwell/st.-cecilia-and-the-history-of-the-roman-catacombs|title=St. Cecilia and the History of the Roman Catacombs|work=National Catholic Register|accessdate=2019-09-02|author=Thomas Craughwell}}</ref> The remains were placed within a side altar in the new St. Raphael's Cathedral, in Dubuque, Iowa.<ref name=Frazier>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=My76xBkl6vAC&pg=PA253|title=The WPA Guide to 1930s Iowa|publisher=Federal Writers' Project|accessdate=2015-05-25|author=Joseph Frazier|date=25 January 2010|isbn=9781587296635}}</ref>
After the completion of renovations in the mid-1980s, it was decided to place the remains of Cessianus under the new, freestanding main altar.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=jQblhT1XtkMC&dq=saint+cessianus&pg=PA56 Craughwell, Thomas J., "Cessianus", ''Saints Preserved'', Crown Publishing Group, 2011] {{ISBN|9780307590749}}</ref> On November 23, 1986, the wooden box containing the remains of Cessianus was installed during Mass in the altar where they currently reside.
==References== {{Reflist}}
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Category:295 births Category:303 deaths Category:3rd-century Romans Category:4th-century Christian martyrs Category:4th-century Romans Category:Christian child saints Category:Italian Roman Catholic saints Category:Christians martyred during the reign of Diocletian