RESTITUTA, saint, martyr. — A martyr named R. appears in various Passiones of a legendary character and is venerated on 17 May at Ischia and Naples (BHL, 7190–91), in Corsica (BHL, suppl. 6466 d–e; martyred at Calvi on 21 May), Cagliari, and other localities in Sardinia (Acta SS. Maii, VII, Antwerp 1688, pp. 794–99); on 27 May at Sora (BHL, 7192–96).
The hypothesis has been proposed that everywhere this is the same African martyr, perhaps belonging to the group
of the martyrs of Abitinae, put to death at Carthage on 12 February 304 (cf. the text of the Passio edited by P. Franchi de' Cavalieri, Note agiografiche, VIII [Studi e Testi, 65], Vatican City 1935, pp. 49–71), whose relics were supposedly transported to Italy by refugees from the Vandal persecution. For the R. of Sora, the identification seems less probable. In any case, here are some facts: at Lacco Ameno on the island of Ischia, excavations carried out in 1950 in the church of S. R. revealed that it had been built in a cemetery area (v. ISCHIA). At Naples, R. is recorded in the Marble Calendar (16 May) and subsequently became, at an undetermined date, the eponymous saint of the Constantinian Basilica, the first Neapolitan Cathedral. At Cagliari in Sardinia, s. R. is identified with the mother of s. Eusebius (cf. F. Savio, Gli antichi vescovi d'Italia, Il Piemonte, Turin 1898, p. 551; the identification already dates from the 8th–9th century). In Corsica, outside the inhabited area of Calenzana, in the region of Calvi, in an oratory dedicated to s. R., built over an ancient cemetery area, excavations in 1951 brought to light a sarcophagus deeply set into the ground and covered by a layer of plaster with 12th-century frescoes depicting the scene of the martyrdom of R. and conscci. The sarcophagus, against which a medieval altar had been placed, had a gabled lid and bore a large monogram of Christ engraved on its front.