Page:A Dictionary of Saintly Women Volume 1.djvu/90

76 76 ST. ANSOMIA great piety and very dirty. She in- structed and tended her little brother with gentleness and diligence. She died of cancer. Boll., AA.SS., inter Prse* iermissos, St. Ansomia, Jnne 4, M. Same as AusoNiA, Jane 2, M. at Lyons. St. Anstrude, AvsTRrnE. St. Anstruse, Austrude. St Antea, Anthia. St. Antha, Dec. 12, M., with Ahmo- NABIA. St. AnthiHi April 18 (Ancia, Antea, Antia), M. at Rome or Messina, with her son, St. Elentherius, Bishop, perhaps, of niyricnm. She is said to have been contemporary with the Apostles and to have seen St. Paul ; but the Acts of Si. EtetUheriuSf on which the story rests, are pronounced by Papebroch to be apocry- phal. B.M. B0IUAA.SS. Martin. St. Anthilia, Sept. 24, 25 (Amthilla, Antilia), V. M. at Arezzo, in Tus- cany. St. Anthilla, Anthilia. St. Anthusa(l)» or Domnina, March 20. Nero, angry at the success of St. Photina's preaching at Carthage, ordered her and her five sisters to bo taken to a golden chamber, seven golden chairs and a table to be placed there, and his daughter Domnina, with a hundred fol- lowers, to go in and talk to these Chris- tian women. Domnina and her attendants were speedily converted. She was bap- tized by Photina, and took the name of Anthusa (sometimes given to Photina herself). There are several saints of the names of Domnina and Anthusa honoured in the Church on various days, but it is not recorded that any one of them was daughter of Nero. Henschenius and Papebroch give the story in the Life of St. Photina^ from some old Greek Acts, but do not consider it probable. Boll., AA.SS. St. Anthusa (2), Aug. 22. Time of Valerian. 4th century. Called in Boman Martyrdogy Anthusa the Elder. A woman of Seleucia. Daughter of rich idolaters. She took her two servants, Charisius and Neophytus, and left her home, pretending she was going to visit her nurse, but took the road to Tarsus, where she wanted to go and be baptized. St. Athanasius, bishop of that city, was brought by an angel to meet her on the road. There was no water to be had, so he prayed and brought water out of the ground, wherewith he baptized Anthusa and her two servants. She then re- turned to her mother's house, but was refused admittance; so she betook her- self to a solitary life in the desert, and lived among the beasts for twenty-three years, and then died in peace. Meantime SS. Athanasius, Charisius, and Neophytus were taken by Valerian and put to death. All four are commemorated together. Anthusa is called ** Martyr " in the Boman Martyrology. AA,SS, St. Anthusa (3) the Younger, Aug. 27, M. Clothed in a rough and ragged garment and thrown into a well. Wor- shipped in Sicily. B.M. Pinius, in AA.SS. St. Anthusa (4), July 27, V. 8tb century. Abbess of Constantinople. She dedicated herself to an ascetic religious life, after the example of St. Sisinnus, and founded two religious houses, one for men and the other for women; she herself presided over the latter. In the iconoclastic persecution, the Emperor Constantino Copronymus, hearing that Anthusa and her nuns wor- shipped images, sent for her. She was brought to trial with her nephew, who had succeeded Sisinnus in the care of the monastery. Anthusa was subjected to many tortures, and would perhaps have been put to death, but it happened that the empress was at the point of death in child-birth. Anthusa prophesied for her a safe delivery of twins — a son and daughter. As Uiis presently proved true, the saint was liberated, and taken into great favour by the empress. The girl was called after Anthusa and edu- cated by her, and is commemorated April 17. B.M. AA.SS. St Anthusa (5), April 17. 8th century. A benevolent and pious prin- cess. Daughter of Constantino V. (Co- pronymous). Named after and educated by St. Anthusa (4). Founded the first orphan asylum in the Christian world* Finlay, Byzantine Empire, p. 81. Hen- schenius. Boll., AA,SS. St. Anthusa (6), Feb. 22. A Grecian