RESTITUTA, Saint, Martyr. — A martyr named R. appears in various legendary Passiones and is venerated on May 17 at Ischia and Naples (BHL, 7190-91), in Corsica (BHL, suppl. 6466 d-e; martyred at Calvi on May 21), Cagliari and other places in Sardinia (Acta SS. Maii, VII, Antwerp 1688, pp. 794-99); and on May 27 at Sora (BHL, 7192-96).
The hypothesis has been proposed that this is everywhere the same African martyr, perhaps belonging to the group of martyrs of Abitinae, put to death at Carthage on 12 Feb. 304 (cf. the text of the Passio edited by P. Franchi de' Cavalieri, Note agiografiche, VIII [Studi e Testi, 63], Vatican City 1935, pp. 49-71), whose relics may have been brought to Italy by refugees from the Vandal persecution. For the R. of Sora, this identification seems less likely. In any case, here are some factual details: at Lacco Ameno on the island of Ischia, excavations carried out in 1950 in the church of St. R. revealed that it was built on a cemetery area (v. ISCHIA). At Naples, R. is listed in the Marble Calendar (16 May) and later, at an unspecified time, became the eponym of the Constantinian Basilica, the first cathedral of Naples.
Restituta, Saint, Martyr — The Madonna enthroned; at the sides, St. Januarius and St. R. Mosaic by Lello Fiorentino (1322) — Naples, church of St. Restituta.
In Cagliari, Sardinia, R. is identified with the mother of St. Eusebius (cf. F. Savio, Gli antichi vescovi d'Italia, Il Piemonte, Turin 1898, p. 551; the identification dates back to the 8th–9th century). In Corsica, outside the town of Calenzana, in the region of Calvi, in an oratory dedicated to St. R., built over an ancient cemetery area, excavations in 1951 brought to light a sarcophagus deeply embedded in the ground and covered with a layer of plaster bearing 12th-century frescoes depicting the martyrdom of R. and companions. The sarcophagus, against which a medieval altar was placed, had a pitched lid and bore on its front a large Christogram.