Celerinus, (1)

a confessor at Rome, was torturted, apparently in the presence of Decius himself. He writes in agony of mind to Lucianus (q.v.), the Carthaginian confessor, to beg a libellus for his two sistersNumeria and Candida — the latter of whom had sacrificed; and, to avoid sacrificing, the former, called also Etecusa, "paid money." The Celerinus whom Cyprian ordained in his retirement, near Carthage, in December, 250 (Epist. 37 and 39), must be the same person; for he comes from Rome, and; from the famous group of confessors Moyses, Maximhus, etc. He belonged to a family of martyrs his grandmother, Celerina, and two uncles, Laurentinus and Ignatius, having died by martyrdom. In the Carthaginian Calendar he is commemorated Feb. 3 as deacon confessor. Again, the Celerinus mentioned in Cornelius's letter to Fabius, bishop of Antioch, must be the same (Euseb. H.E. 5, 43). (2) Father of Ageruchia (q.v.). See Jerome, Epist. 123, ed. Vail.