ANASTASIA, Saint, Martyr. - This concerns a martyr, venerated on 25 December, whose center of veneration was at Sirmium. Moreover, the late Latin Passio, which is the original one, imagines that A., having remained a widow, set out from Rome to follow Chrysogonus, imprisoned by order of Diocletian. After Chrysogonus was martyred, several other events of an utterly fictional character follow. Included among them is also the martyrdom of the saints Agape, Chione and Irene, of the priest Zoilus and of others (Theodota and her three sons). We know for certain that the patriarch of Constantinople Cennadius (458-71) had the body of A. brought from Sirmium, and deposited it in the sanctuary dedicated by him ἐν τοῖς Δομνίνῳ ἐμβάλῳ (Theodore the Lector, II, 65; PG 86, 216; Synax. Constantinop., p. 336). For the Greeks the saint bore the epithet φραμακαλότρια, perhaps in relation to miracles against poisoning. But the legendists also added an A. called "the Roman" or "the Virgin," thus complicating the already difficult hagiographic problem.
In the Roman basilica of St. Anastasia the application of the cult of the martyr of Sirmium is merely the fruit of a later association with the name of the foundress of the title. This basilica, situated at the foot of the Palatine, received donations from Pope Damasus (366-84; cf. De Rossi, Inscript., II, Rome 1861, p. 150) and is therefore earlier than the cult of A.; it is only in the 6th century that there is mention of the titulus sanctae Anastasiae. Apart from Grisar's hypothesis, who thought of a parallel with the Jerusalem sanctuary of the Anastasis, there remains the identification of the foundress, proposed very acutely by Whitehead, as a personage of the Constantinian family.
The Basilica arose amid imposing imperial structures between the Palatine and the Circus Maximus. Among classical and Christian constructions, as many as nine periods are counted there. Perhaps the Basilica originally had (according to Krautheimer) a single nave and appears to have been of cruciform type. Then it was changed into a majestic basilica with three naves. - See Pl. XCIV.
Plate XCIVST. ANASTASIA by V. Carpaccio (15th cent.)Zadar, Cathedral.(fot. Alinari)Bibliography8 worksMartyr. Hieronymianum, p. 9; Martyr. Romanum, p. 601. - L. Duchesne, in Mélanges d'archiologie et d'histoire, 7 (1887), pp. 387-413; H. Gris
BIBL.:Martyr. Hieronymianum, p. 9; Martyr. Romanum, p. 601. - L. Duchesne, in Mélanges d'archiologie et d'histoire, 7 (1887), pp. 387-413; H. Grisar, Analecta Romana, Rome 1899, p. 595; Ph. B. Whitehead, in American Journal of Archaeology, 1917, p. 405 ff.; H. Delchaye, Etude sur le légendier romain, Brussels 1936, pp. 151-66; R. Krautheimer, Corpus basilicarum christianorum Romae, I, fasc. 1, Vatican City 1937, p. 43 ff.; M. Armellini, Le chiese di Roma dal sec. IV al XIX, ed. C. Cecchelli, Rome 1942, pp. 651, 1236; F. W. Deichmann, Zu S. A. in Rom, in Römische Mitteilungen, 58 (1943), pp. 151-153.
Cecchelli, Carlo. “Anastasia, santa, martire.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. I, col. 1150. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1948. https://azioneromana.com/article/anastasia-santa-martire.
MLA
Cecchelli, Carlo. “Anastasia, santa, martire.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. I, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1948, col. 1150. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/anastasia-santa-martire.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec1_anastasia_santa_martire,
author = {Cecchelli, Carlo},
title = {Anastasia, santa, martire},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {I},
pages = {1150},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1948},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/anastasia-santa-martire}
}
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