APRIL 22D, SAINTS SOTER AND CAJUS, POPES AND MARTYRS

Month in honor of the Most Blessed Sacrament.

From the Roman Breviary —

Soter, a countryman of Fondi in Campania, succeeded the holy martyr Anicetus. It was he who ordained that nuns should not touch the sacred vessels and linen of the Altar, nor serve with the incense in the Church. He ordained likewise, that on the anniversary of the Lord's Supper, every one should receive the Body of Christ, except those who were forbidden to do so on account of grievous sin. He was crowned with martyrdom under the Emperor Marcus Aurélius, and was buried in the Cemetery, which was afterwards called that of St. Calixtus. Caius was a Dalmatian and a kinsman of the Emperor Diocletian. It was he who ordained that the following should be the order of degrees in the Church through which all should pass before they be made bishop: first, Porter; second, Lector; third, Exorcist; fourth, Acolyte; fifth, Subdeacon; sixth, Deacon; seventh, Priest. Caius fled from the cruelties practiced by Diocletian against the Christians, and lay hid for a while in a cave, but after eight years he and his brother Gabinus won the crown of martyrdom, and was likewise buried in the Cemetery of Callistus.