Crisogonus, Saint

CRISOGONUS, Saint. - Martyr, celebrated on November 24. His story, according to the Passio, is linked to that of St. Anastasia. C. is neither Roman nor from Sirmium, but from Aquileia. In fact the Passio, in order to connect itself to the element of martyrdom, must declare that he was beheaded at Aquas Gradatas, near Aquileia. His body was thrown into the estate at Saltus (BHL, 1795; H. Delehaye, Etude sur le légendier romain, Brussels 1936, pp. 151-52; Martyr. Hieronymianum, pp. 618-19).

It may be that this C. is, as P. Paschini thought (La Chiesa aquileiese e il periodo delle origini [Udine 1919, p. 60]), followed by F. Lanzoni (p. 870), the bishop of Aquileia who was the predecessor of Theodore, and therefore died not later than 314. But the titular of the titulus Chrysogoni of Rome must originally have been quite distinct and only at a later time assimilated to the one from Aquileia. The archaeological stratification of this titulus shows us a warehouse or a house certainly not patrician of the popular Trastevere region. The name of the «conditor tituli» very probably points to one of the many Orientals who resided in the area. The titulus appears in the conciliar subscriptions of 499 and 595. It was connected with the cemetery of St. Pancras. At first it was housed in a single-hall room. Then it underwent various transformations, perhaps in the 5th century. It was provided with a confessio. It had important paintings (layers from the 8th to the 10th century). In 1123 the new imposing church was built at a higher level. - See pl. LV.

Chrysogonus in Rome, Vatican City 1935: R. Krautheimer, Corpus basilicarum Christianarum Romae, I, fasc. III, Vatican City 1940, pp. 144-64.

Carlo Cecchelli