Sts Anastasia and Basilissa of Rome

Martyrs (d. 68)

Their lives

+ According to tradition, Anastasia and Basilissa were noble Roman women who were converted to the Christian Faith by Saints Peter and Paul.

+ They courageously buried the bodies of Christians martyred during the persecutions of the Emperor Nero. Some traditions say that Anastasia and Basilissa were also responsible for burying the remains of Peter and Paul after they were martyred.

+ The two women were eventually arrested and tortured, but they refused to deny Christ.

+ Saints Anastasia and Basilissa were martyred in the year 68 and are honored in both the Eastern and Western Churches. They are honored as the patron saints of tailors.

+ A statue of Saint Basilissa is among those that line the colonnade overlooking Saint Peter’s Square in Rome.

Spiritual Bonus

Holy Saturday is the day on which Catholics traditionally honor the Blessed Virgin Mary under her title of “Our Lady of Solitude,” recalling how Mary spent the day in mourning and prayer following the death and burial of her Son.

Quote

Thus says the Lord:
In their affliction, they shall look for me:
  "“Come, let us return to the LORD,
For it is he who has rent, but he will heal us;
  he has struck us, but he will bind our wounds.
He will revive us after two days;
  on the third day he will raise us up,
  to live in his presence.”—Hosea 6:1-2

Prayer

All-powerful and ever-living God,
your only Son went down among the dead
and rose again in glory.
In your goodness
raise up your faithful people,
buried with him in baptism,
to be one with him
in the eternal life of heaven,
where he lives and reigns with you
and the Holy Spirit, one God,
for ever and ever. Amen.

(from The Liturgy of the Hours)

~

Saint profiles prepared by Brother Silas Henderson, S.D.S.