Saint Anastasia (died December 25 A.D. 304) is a Christian saint and martyr who died at Sirmium in the Roman province of Pannonia Secunda (modern Serbia). In the Eastern Orthodox Church, she is venerated as St. Anastasia the Pharmakolytria, i.e. "Deliverer from Potions" (). This epithet is also translated as "One who Cures (Wounds)" in Lampe's A Patristic Greek Lexicon.
Concerning Anastasia, little is reliably known, save that she died in the persecutions of Diocletian; most stories about her date from several centuries after her death and make her variously a Roman or Sirmian native and a Roman citizen of patrician rank. One legend makes her the daughter of a certain Praetextatus and the pupil of Saint Chrysogonus. Catholic tradition states that her mother was St. Fausta of Sirmium.
Anastasia has long been venerated as a healer and exorcist. Her relics lie in the Cathedral of St. Anastasia in Zadar, Croatia.
She is one of seven women who, along with Blessed Virgin Mary, are commemorated by name in the Roman Canon of the Mass.
Hagiography
Prior to the liturgical reforms of the twentieth century, this martyr enjoyed the distinction, unique in the Roman liturgy, of having a special commemoration in the second Mass on Christmas Day. This daytime Mass was originally celebrated not in honor of the birth of Christ but rather in commemoration of this martyr, and towards the end of the 5th century, her name was also inserted in the Roman Canon.
A "Passio" not earlier than the 6th century, gives a legendary account that makes Anastasia a Roman without claiming that she suffered martyrdom in Rome. The same legend connects her name with that of St. Chrysogonus, put to death in Aquileia, though the San Crisogono church in Rome is dedicated to him.
The legend already mentioned makes Anastasia the daughter of Praetextatus, a Roman vir illustris, and affirms that she had Chrysogonus as a teacher. Early in the persecution of Diocletian, the Emperor summoned Chrysogonus to Aquileia where he suffered martyrdom. Anastasia, having gone from Aquileia to Sirmium to visit the faithful of that place, was beheaded on the island of Palmaria, 25 December. Her body was interred in the house of Apollonia, which had been converted into a basilica.
The whole account is purely legendary and rests on no historical foundations. All that is certain is that a martyr named Anastasia gave her life for the faith in Sirmium and that her memory was kept in that city. In Rome, a church in ancient times bore the name of a certain Anastasia and is listed under the name titulus Anastasiae in the acts of the 499 Roman synods. At some point in history, this church came to be seen as dedicated to this martyr of the same name. It has the rank of a basilica and is one of the titular churches of Rome assigned to a cardinal-priest.
Basilica
The basilica of Sant'Anastasia al Palatino in Rome was built in the late 3rd century – early 4th century, possibly by a Roman woman named Anastasia. Later the church was entitled to the martyr with the same name, Anastasia of Sirmium.
Veneration
In the West
The Martyrologium Hieronymianum records her name on 25 December, not for Sirmium alone, but also for Constantinople, a circumstance based on a separate story. According to Theodorus Lector, during the patriarchate of Gennadius (458-471) the body of the martyr was transferred to Constantinople and interred in a church which had hitherto been known as "Anastasis" (Gr. Anastasis, Resurrection); thenceforth the church took the name of Anastasia.