ANTEN (Ad Sanctos). — In the Rhineland (Germany). It stands on the site of the ancient "Colonia Traiana," founded by the Emperor of the same name.
The present city of X. developed around the venerated tomb of the martyr Victor; indeed, X. is nothing more than a derivative of "ad sanctos." Gregory of Tours recounts that his colleague Ebregesilus, bishop of Cologne, built a basilica to the martyr Mallosus, whose tomb had been discovered near the "oppidum Bertensium" (modern Birten, 3 km north of X.), and that there was also the tomb of the martyr Victor, though his body had not yet been found (In gloria martyrum, 62). In the Hieronymian Martyrology, Mallosus and Victor are listed under October 10. Around the tomb of the latter, a pagan cemetery and a Christian cemetery developed, and a basilica was built over his tomb, which was repeatedly renovated.
During excavations carried out in 1933, ancient walls and sarcophagi were discovered beneath the floor of the sacred building; a cell was identified as the nucleus of the basilica, with an altar beneath which two skeletons enclosed in a wooden casket were found; a coin found there dates to the reign of Theodosius I (379–95). The church underwent an enlargement around the time of Pepin, from which a coin was also recovered; shortly afterward, the building was further enlarged to include a nave 14 meters long, with a mosaic floor. It was sacked by the Normans in 864, after which the present Gothic church was built. — See pl. CLVII.