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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture Anastasius (also Anastasius the Fuller; in Croatian: Anastazije, Staš) is an early martyr of Salona, the capital of Roman Dalmatia. His cult there is attested for the late sixth century by a dated inscription of 599 (CIL III, 9527). A martyrial basilica at nearby Marusinac is commonly but insecurely identified as his. Here's a view of it, showing the presence of a crypt below the place where the altar would have stood: http://www.vecernji.hr/media/slika/57/282741.jpg Anastasius was one of the Dalmatian and Istrian martyrs whom pope John IV (640-642) translated to Rome and housed in a chapel built for them (that of St. Venantius) in the Lateran Baptistery. The (pseudo-)Hieronymian Martyrology enters under 26. August an Anastasius of Salona whom it says -- in most versions but not in that of the _codex Epternacensis_ -- was a fuller; the specification of an occupation is unusual in the (ps.-)HM and in this case probably came from a now lost Passio. The Anastasius in the seventh-century mosaics of the Lateran Baptistery's cappella di San Venanzio is richly dressed and for that reason has been interpreted as an aristocrat. But perhaps Anastasius will have been remembered as a _wealthy_ fuller, the owner/operator of a large establishment. It is easy to forget that people engaged in humble trades can sometimes be quite well to do. For example, the poet Vergil's father, said to have been a manufacturer of roof tiles, was able to provide a very expensive education for his gifted son. The ninth-century martyrology of St. Ado of Vienne enters under 21. August a saint Anastasius martyred at Salona whom Ado identifies with a personage of that name in the Passio of St. Agapitus of Praeneste (19. August). Anastasius' legendary Passio (BHL 414, 415), whose earliest witness is of the tenth century, makes him a native of Aquileia who seeks martyrdom at Salona and is accommodated by being weighted down with a stone and drowned at sea. Anastasius has a cult at today's Split (in Italian: Spalato), where he is one of the martyrs believed to have been translated thither from Salona around the time of the latter's sack by proto-Slavs and Avars in 614. The thirteenth-century _Historia Salonitana_ of Thomas the Archdeacon recounts a story of how in the time of Split's seventh-century bishop John I when a party went to Salona to find St. Domnius' body the first body that was recovered was that of Anastasius; Domnius' remains were located on the following day and both saints were then translated to Split and laid to rest in its cathedral (the latter, dedicated to St. Domnius, famously utilizes Diocletian's mausoleum in what had been his palace there). Today (26. August) is Anastasius' feast day in the archdiocese of Split-Makarska and his day of commemoration in the Roman Martyrology. Some period-pertinent images of St. Anastasius of Salona: a) as depicted (at far right) in a seventh-century mosaic in the cappella di San Venanzio in the Lateran Baptistery: https://www.flickr.com/photos/prof_richard/7995815852/ b) as portrayed in relief (lower register at right; at center, St. Domnius; at right, St. Peter) by Master Otto in his thirteenth-century arch in the belltower of the katedrala Svetog Dujma in Split: http://cdn.ipernity.com/120/26/52/11632652.57474bc2.640.jpg?r2 https://www.flickr.com/photos/9288799@N02/6297040128 The relief was cut down and remounted during the belltower's late nineteenth-early twentieth century rebuilding; it was cleaned and restored in 2009-2010). c) as portrayed in relief (upper register; recumbent figure) by Giorgio da Sebenico / Juraj Dalmatinac in Anastasius' mid-fifteenth-century altar tomb (ca. 1448) in the katedrala Svetog Dujma in Split: http://tinyurl.com/jbxl4nt Best, John Dillon ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: subscribe medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: unsubscribe medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/medieval-religion