Saint Anastasia the Younger

The sorrow of Saint Anastasia, during this captivity, was not being deprived of the conversation of the world, for which she had only horror; but it was being unable to assist the servants of Jesus Christ, and especially that illustrious martyr from whom she had received such holy instructions, and whom she knew to be overwhelmed with misery. She prayed earnestly to Our Lord to restore her freedom; and, according to the prediction of her holy tutor, she was finally heard. Her husband was appointed by the emperor to go on an embassy to the King of Persia; he accepted this mission, and, upon leaving, he left Anastasia under the guard of a scoundrel named Codisse, whom he instructed to keep her so confined that she could not even breathe the air, hoping that this rigor would cause her to die, and that upon his return he would only have to take possession of the great wealth she had brought him in marriage; but divine justice punished him for his inhumanity. He died on the way a violent death, and the plans of his cruelty and avarice died with him. Anastasia was thus delivered from the idolaters who guarded her, and finding herself mistress of all her goods, she saw herself in greater freedom than ever to assist the martyrs. She therefore resumed her former offices of charity, and she added that of seeking and redeeming the bodies of those who had been executed, burying them with her own hands, and giving them an honorable burial.

It happened, however, that Diocletian, being at Aquileia, began there a horrible slaughter of Christians; and, among others, he had Saint Chr ysogonus brought saint Chrysogone Confessor and martyr, spiritual mentor of Anastasia. from Rome, whom he hoped to overcome by his promises or his threats. Anastasia believed this to be a fine field to exercise her zeal. She ran there immediately, and one cannot believe the aid she rendered to these precious victims of Christianity. When she had buried Saint Chrysogonus, along with the holy Agape, Chionia, and Irene, she left Aquileia and went to Macedonia, where she had the same opportunities to manifest her charity. The prisons there were so full of confessors that they could hold no more: an order came from Diocletian to put a great number of them to death to make room for others who professed the same faith and who were being arrested at every moment. One day, when one of these prisons had been entirely emptied, Anastasia, who knew nothing of it, came as was her custom to offer her assistance to the blessed captives; but, finding them no longer there, she began to weep bitter tears and to heave great sighs. She was asked what was the matter; she replied, with marvelous courage, that the subject of her sorrow was no longer finding the servants of Jesus Christ, whose faith she imitated, in order to assist them as members of her adorable Savior. It was known by this that she was a Christian; she was seized, and led to Florus, prefect of Illyria.

This ju dge first inquired who s Florus, préfet d'Illyrie Prefect of Illyria who judged Anastasia. he was, and, having learned her name, her homeland, her family, and that she had been married to Publius, the emperor's amba ssador Publius Husband of Anastasia, ambassador to the King of Persia. to the King of Persia, he pressed her greatly to induce her to submit to the prince's will. Her answers made him judge well that he would not succeed; but, as it was forbidden for provincial judges to torment ladies of quality without a special order from the court, he found himself obliged to refer this matter to Diocletian. As this tyrant was no less greedy than he was cruel, and as he loved gold even more than his gods, he first wanted to know what she had done with her wealth. "If I still had any property left," she replied, "I would not have revealed myself so soon, and I would have continued to distribute it in secret to the servants of my divine Master; but having entirely exhausted myself in assisting them, I now come with a willing heart to offer my body as a sacrifice to the true God, since my greatest desire is to participate in the sufferings of those to whom I have shared my treasures." Diocletian, incapable of such high wisdom, called her extravagant and would not argue with her. He therefore had her taken back to Florus, and the latter placed her in the hands of Ulpian, pontiff of the Capitol, a clever and malicious man, whom he judged capable of reducing her to Ulpien, pontife du Capitole Pontiff of the Capitol who attempted to corrupt Anastasia. the worship of idols.

This profane man spared nothing to overcome her, and joined the most beautiful promises of the world, most apt to shake a heart however timid, with the most frightful threats; but the constancy of the Saint, rendering all his artifices useless, he told her in conclusion that he was giving her three more days, and that after that they would employ against her all sorts of tortures and punishments. "What is the need of three days?" said Anastasia; "imagine that they have already passed, for I will tell you nothing other than what I tell you now. I hate your gods, I mock the impious and sacrilegious orders of your emperors, I sacrifice only to Jesus Christ and I am ready to die for his honor." This resolution did not prevent them from giving her the three days. They placed her in the hands of some idolatrous women, so that they might make their efforts to shake her. They worked at it with all their power, but without success. The Saint spent all this time in a rigorous fast and in continual prayer. When she was brought back before Ulpian, this pontiff had the temerity to want to lay a lascivious hand upon her; but he was repelled with horror, and, in punishment for this attempt, he lost his sight, and, a moment later, the life of the body as well as that of the soul, which was cast into hell.

Florus had her brought before him some time later, and, taking her aside, he told her that, if she would yield to him the great goods she still possessed in land, he would let her live in peace in her religion. "If you were in need," replied Anastasia, "I would assist you very willingly with the same charity with which I have assisted all the poor; but, since you are rich, I am careful not to cede to you the goods that divine Providence has given me for the relief of the unfortunate. It is true that you are in very great indigence of the goods of grace; but it is for God to give them, and he bestows them only on souls who ask him for them with fervor."

The prefect was in despair at this answer; and, to better avenge himself, he had her locked in an obscure prison, with orders to give her almost nothing to eat. This was what the Saint wished. She was visited and consoled there by Saint Theodota, formerly her companion in visiting the dungeons where the martyrs were, and since executed for the faith with her three chil dren in Nicaea sainte Théodote Companion of Anastasia, martyr at Nicaea, who appeared to her in prison. in Bithynia, as we said on August 2. The frequent visits of this illustrious martyr caused Saint Anastasia to ask her how she had the freedom to come and see her. "God," answered Theodota, "sometimes grants to the souls of the martyrs the privilege of visiting those they wish, to console them and converse with them." At the end of thirty days, Florus, seeing Anastasia in full health, believed that her jailers had shown indulgence to her; that is why he had her taken to another prison, whose guards were very barbaric. She was treated there with the utmost rigor; but she did not cease to be almost always in prayer and often with her arms in the form of a cross, during the month that she remained there.

After this month she was placed, by order of the prefect, in a boat with a Christian, named Eutychian, and one hundred and twenty idolaters, condemned to death for their crimes; she was led into the open sea, in order to be submerged there. They found the boat in many places, so that it would take on water on all sides, and they abandoned it to the impetuosity of the waves. Its loss was naturally inevitable, and the sea had already almost covered the whole vessel when Theodota appeared above the sails and took the rudder. She prevented it from sinking, and she guided it so well to the shore that no one was drowned. This miracle caused the conversion of the one hundred and twenty idolaters, who, instead of enduring death for their crimes, had three days later the happiness of dying for the confession of the name of Jesus Christ.

As for t he generous Anastas généreuse Anastasie Virgin and martyr of the 4th century, the main subject of the text. ia, she was led to the island of Palmarola (Tyrrhenian Sea) with two hundred men and seventy women, all condemned for the faith of Jesus Christ; when she arrived there, the executioners tied her to a stake with her feet and hands outstretched, and they lit a great fire around her to burn her. She gloriously completed the course of her martyrdom through this ordeal, and she went to triumph in heaven with those whom she had so charitably helped on earth. Her other companions also lost their lives through various kinds of torments.

The body of Saint Anastasia was taken by a lady of quality, named Apollonia, who, after the persecution, had a magnificent chu Rome Birthplace of Maximian. rch built in Rome in honor of the Saint, in which her precious remains were deposited. This church is a cardinal's title. Saint Leo the Gre at delivered his fa Saint Léon le Grand Pope who maintained close correspondence with Constantine and the Gallic bishops. mous homily against the heresy of Eutyches there; a chalice is still preserved there, which is said to have been used by Sa int Jerome w saint Jérôme Father of the Church and author of the original biography of Saint Asella. hen he celebrated the holy mysteries there. It is in this church that the Sovereign Pontiffs are accustomed to sing the dawn mass on Christmas Day, in memory of Saint Anastasia.

This narrative is by Father Giry, which we have supplemented with the Dominican Year. — Cf. Metaphrastes and Surius.