Saints Soter & Cajus, Popes & Martyrs
Ss. Soteris et Caii Paparum et Martyrum
On this day the Church honours together two Bishops of Rome of the early centuries, Saint Soter and Saint Cajus, both of whom held the See of Peter in times of trial and have long been venerated among the holy Popes and martyrs of Rome.
Saints Soter and Cajus, joined in one feast on the twenty-second of April, were Roman Pontiffs separated by more than a hundred years, the one near the close of the second century and the other near the close of the third. Of the lives of these two Popes little is recorded with certainty, for both belong to the early ages of the Church from which few sure details survive. The Church keeps their memory with reverence, honouring the office they bore and the fidelity with which they handed on the Faith, while making no claim to a fullness of knowledge that the records do not allow.
Saint Soter
Saint Soter governed the Roman Church about the years 166 to 174, in succession to Saint Anicetus. He is remembered for his charity: an ancient letter of the Church of Corinth, quoted by the historian Eusebius, gives thanks for the generous aid that Soter and the Roman Church sent to brethren in need and in chains, continuing a custom long established among the Romans. In this we glimpse a shepherd marked by a fatherly care reaching beyond his own city to the wider Church. He has from early times been venerated as a martyr.
Saint Cajus
Saint Cajus, also called Caius, held the See of Peter from about the year 283 to 296, in the years of comparative peace that preceded the great persecution of Diocletian. According to ancient tradition he was of the imperial family and a kinsman of the emperor, and he was buried in the cemetery of Callixtus, where his epitaph was afterward found. Of the particulars of his life and death little can be affirmed with confidence; he has long been honoured among the holy Popes, and the faithful, in venerating him with Saint Soter, give thanks for the unbroken line of shepherds who kept the Church through every age.
The Collect
O eternal Shepherd, look forgivingly upon Thy flock, and keep it in Thy constant protection through blessed Soter and Cajus, Thy Martyrs and Sovereign Pontiffs, whom Thou didst constitute shepherds of the whole Church. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.
Gregem tuum, Pastor ætérne, placátus inténde: et, per beátos Sotérem et Caium Mártyres tuos atque Summos Pontífices, perpétua protectióne custódi; quos totíus Ecclésiæ præstitísti esse pastóres. Per Dóminum nostrum Iesum Christum Fílium tuum, qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitáte Spíritus Sancti Deus, per ómnia sǽcula sæculórum. Amen.
In the Modern Calendar
Saints Soter and Cajus are no longer inscribed in the modern General Roman Calendar; they continue to be honoured in the Roman Martyrology.
Common Questions
When is the feast of Saints Soter and Cajus?
In the 1962 Roman Missal their feast is kept together on 22 April as a Third-Class feast.
Who were Saints Soter and Cajus?
They were two early Bishops of Rome — Soter in the later second century and Cajus in the later third — both honoured among the holy Popes and martyrs. Saint Soter is especially remembered for his charity toward the wider Church.
Why are these two Popes celebrated on the same day?
Although they lived more than a century apart, both were commemorated on 22 April in the ancient Roman calendar, and the 1962 Missal accordingly unites them in a single feast.
See where this feast falls in the Church’s year on the liturgical calendar, or find a Traditional Latin Mass near you.
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