St. Anastasia enjoys the unique distinction of having a special commemoration in the second Mass on Christmas Day.  Prior to the selection of December 25th as a day to honor the birth of Christ, this Mass was celebrated to commemorate the believed day she died in 304.

   The Holy and Great Martyr Anastasia, a great heroine of the Christian faith, was born in Rome into a wealthy senatorial family, her father being a pagan and her mother a Christian.  From her early youth, she possessed great love for the Lord Jesus, guided in Christian teaching by a devout teacher, Chrysogonus. Under pressure from her father, Anastasia married a pagan landowner, Publius, but, using the pretext of woman’s weakness, she never had physical relations with him. For this, her husband tortured her harshly by imprisonment and starvation, and laid heavy tortures on her when he discovered that she went secretly to the prisons of the Christians martyrs, ministering to their needs, washing their wounds and loosening their bonds. But, by God’s providence, she was freed from her wicked husband. Publius was sent to Persia by the Emperor, and was drowned on the voyage. Then St. Anastasia began to minister openly to the Christian martyrs and, from her great inheritance, helped the poor with alms.

   The Emperor Diocletian was once in the town of Aquileia, and commanded that Chrysogonus, the confessor of Christ, be brought to him. As he was being brought, Anastasia followed him on the way. Holy Chrysogonus was beheaded at the Emperor’s command, and then three sisters, Agapia, Chionia and Irene suffered, the first two being cast into fire and the third shot through with arrows. St. Anastasia took their bodies, wrapped them in white linen and, anointing them with aromatic spices, gave them burial. Then Anastasia went to Macedonia, where she ministered to those who were suffering for Christ. There, she became widely known as a Christian, for which she was seized and taken for interrogation before various judges. Desiring to die for her beloved Christ, Anastasia constantly clung to Him in her heart. A certain pagan high priest, Ulphian, tried to touch St. Anastasia’s body out of lust, but he was suddenly blinded and gave up the ghost. Condemned to death by starvation, St. Anastasia lay in prison for thirty days, nourishing herself only with tears and prayers. After that, she was put in a boat with several other Christians to be drowned, but God saved her from death. She was finally tied hand and foot to four wheels over a fire, and thus gave her holy soul into God’s hands. She suffered and entered into Christ’s Kingdom in 304.

   Her body was returned to Sirmium where she was laid to rest and her memory kept sacred. Her body was later transferred to Constantinople and interred in a church known as “Anastasis” (Greek for Resurrection of Christ).  Three “Anastasis” churches existed at the time, the one at Constanstinople, one at Ravenna, and the other at Rome.

   Sometime during the fifth century, she became highly venerated at Constantinople and it is inferred that because of the intimate relations between the three “Anastasis” at the time this brought about an increase in devotion to St. Anastasia in Rome and she soon became and still renames the titular saint of the old Roman basilica. She was inserted into the Roman Canon of the Mass towards the end of the fifth century which showed she occupied a unique position among the saints publicly venerated at Rome at the time.