St. Anastasia

St. Anastasia (c. 281-314 A.D.) was a Roman citizen of the noble class, born to a wealthy pagan father and a Christian mother. She was secretly baptized due to her mother's desire to raise her as a Christian. Anastasia married a Roman pagan of her class, and, when he discovered that she was a practicing Christian, he became a cruel tyrant and inflicted much suffering upon her. After her husband's untimely death, Anastasia devoted her life to acts of charity and to consoling Christians who were imprisoned for their faith. When she was discovered to be a Christian during the persecutions of Diocletian, Anastasia was captured, tortured, and starved before being crucified, burned alive, and beheaded. The place of her martyrdom is Sirmium in what is today Serbia, and afterwards she was venerated as a healer and exorcist. St. Anastasia is one of the seven women, besides the Virgin Mary, commemorated in the Roman Canon of the Mass. Her feast day is December 25th.