ANASTASIO MAGUNDAT, saint, martyr. – Persian monk and martyr, born at Razech, died in 628. When the Cross was carried off to Persia in 614, Magundat, who had been trained in magic, wished to know why Christians so greatly venerated an instrument of torture. Having learned the rudiments of the Christian religion, he resolved to embrace it and went to Gerapoli, where, in the church of the Martyrs, he learned to admire their heroism. He then went to Jerusalem, where he received baptism, changing his name to that of A. After 7 years of monastic life, he went to Caesarea in Palestine, then subject to the Persians, and there he was subjected to cruel tortures. A letter was written about him, commending him to King Cosroe, who replied that
they should set him free on condition that he abjure only formally and before a single person. A. refused. Sent to Barsiloe (Persia), where the king was, he withstood every torture and was strangled and beheaded (628). His relics were brought to Rome during the reign of Eraclio, no later than 640. In two pilgrims’ Itineraries of the 7th century, namely the De locis and the Notia Portorum (ed. R. Valentini - G. Zucchetti, in Codice topografico della Città di Roma, II, Roma 1942, pp. 109, 150), there is mention of the veneration of his head in the monastery «ad aquas Salvias», later called that of SS. Vincenzo and A. at Tre Fontane. His feast is celebrated on 22 Jan.