Biography
Septimius of Iesi
About Septimius of Iesi
Septimius, called Settimio in Italian, is honored as the traditional first bishop, martyr and patron of Iesi, now usually written Jesi. The diocese places his founding mission in the fourth century while clearly identifying it as tradition. Its first written evidence for a bishop concerns Onesto at a Roman synod in 680.
The story preserved in the office readings printed in 1624 makes him a convert from Roman settlements in Germany. It brings him through Milan to Rome, where Pope Marcellus sends him as bishop to Iesi. There he preaches, converts others and is finally beheaded after refusing to sacrifice to the gods.
The Bollandist editor questioned the account. He could find no secure early author or source for the readings and pointed out their close resemblance to the flawed Acts of Emidius of Ascoli. The same journeys, healings and conversions recur with altered names. The received narrative therefore leaves the circumstances and date of Septimius’s life uncertain.
The cathedral had been dedicated to him before the reported discovery of his body in 1469. The Bollandist commentary also records Bishop Tiberio Cenci’s later search for the relics and their placement in an honored tomb. It transcribes a dedicatory inscription dated 1623 and the bishop’s 1636 attestation that Septimius’s feast was solemnly celebrated on 22 September. These records preserve the community’s established devotion to its founding patron.
That devotion continues in the cathedral community. In a 2011 interview, its pastor Cristiano Marasca acknowledged how little strictly historical information survives, while explaining the gratitude attached to the tradition of a missionary who brought the Gospel to Iesi. The report describes the Pia Unione of Saint Settimio, founded in 1869. Its members visit the cathedral, pray at his tomb and remember one another in prayer.
The city and diocese celebrate him on 22 September. His memory belongs to the continuing life of the local Church, which honors him as a founding bishop and martyr while preserving a history whose earliest personal details cannot now be securely recovered.
Wondering how to weigh the stories and sources? Learn how to read a saint biography.