SAINT FEAST DAY 25 DECEMBER: ST ANASTASIA

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN DECEMBER

Saints celebrated on the 25th of December

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SAINT ANASTASIA, MARTYR

St Anastasia's name is mentioned in the canon of the Mass, in the sacramentary of St Gregory, and in other ancient catalogues of martyrs. There stands in Rome an ancient church, which is dedicated to God in her memory. 

MARTYRDOM

In the acts of St Chrysogonus we are told, that she was of an illustrious descent at Rome, had St Chrysogonus for her tutor and director in the faith, and when that holy martyr was apprehended at Aquileia in the persecution of Diocletian, went thither to comfort him in his chains.

It is further related, that after suffering exquisite tortures, she was sentenced by the prefect of Illyricum to be burnt alive in 304. 

COMMEMORATION IN THE SECOND MASS

Her body was removed to Rome, and laid in the church which still bears her name. In this church the popes anciently said their second Mass on Christmas night, or rather that of the morning, whence a commemoration of her is made in the second Mass. 

The relics of St Anastasia were translated to Constantinople in the time of the Emperor Leo, and deposited first in the church of Anastasia or the Resurrection, afterwards in the patriarchal church of St Sophia: but were lost when that city was taken by the Turks. The Greek Menologies and the Muscovite Calendars commemorate our saint on December 22, the Roman Missal on the 25th. 

Source: Fr Butler's Lives of the Saints

PRAYER:

Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that we who know how courageously your holy martyr Anastasia confessed the faith, may experience his goodness as he intercedes for us with you. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.