ON SS. ANASTASIUS AND LXXIII COMPANIONS, AND ALSO SERGIUS THE MONK, MARTYRS IN TARRACONESE SPAIN.
Under Diocletian.
CommentaryAnastasius, soldier, Martyr at Ilerda in Spain (S.) LXXIII companions, Martyrs at Ilerda in Spain Sergius, monk, Martyr at Ilerda in Spain (S.)
From various sources.
[1] Ilerda, commonly called Lerida, is an ancient city of Tarraconese Spain on the river Sicoris, which the locals now call the Segre. S. Anastasius is said to have been born here, who with LXXIII fellow soldiers earned the laurel of martyrdom during the rage of Diocletian, on the maritime coast of the same region, the homeland of S. Anastasius, at Betulum, or Betulo, or Baetulo, or Baetullon, a town which most writers now wish to be called Badalona. S. Sergius the monk is joined with the same Martyrs; whether he was crowned at the same time and place, or at another time and elsewhere, we have not ascertained.
[2] Philip Ferrarius in his new catalogue of Saints on this day says: At Ilerda in Spain, of the holy Martyrs Anastasius and his companions. He cites in his Notes the records of the Church of Ilerda and Maurolycus, who in the Topography of the holy Martyrs of Christ composed by Primus, Bishop of Chalon, in the year 1450, has this: Ilerda, a city of Tarraconese Spain. Here dwells Anastasius, a soldier of Diocletian, his relics and those of his companions, who was long in chains at Tarragona or Saragossa, and died at Barcelona. The same author a little above: Betulon, a coastal city of the same province near Barcelona. Here Anastasius the soldier from Lerida, with LXXIII companions, is a Martyr. Here lies S. Sergius in his monastery, a Martyr.
[3] Alfonso de Villegas in Flos Sanctorum, part 1, concerning the Saints of Spain, largely from the topography of the Bishop of Chalon, which he also cites: S. Anastasius the soldier, born at Ilerda, was crowned with martyrdom, together with LXXIII others, in the maritime city called Betulo, which, the place of martyrdom, as is commonly held, is now called Badalona, situated not far from Barcelona. There also S. Sergius the monk was killed for Christ. John Marietta, book 2 on the Saints of Spain, chapter 33, has nearly the same, except that he assigns only LXX companions to Anastasius, and adds that the day of their martyrdom is unknown, which Ferrarius alone specified, perhaps from the records of the Church of Ilerda which he cites.
[4] Antonio Vincenzo Domenech in the history of the Saints of Catalonia treats more extensively of S. Anastasius and his companions, yet in such a way that he brings forward scarcely anything beyond what we have reported from the cited authors. He indicates that Badalona is now an insignificant place, but appears to have been formerly a famous municipium: he then writes that Anastasius was arrested at Tarragona, wearied by the prolonged hardship of prison there and at Saragossa. Finally brought to Betulum, he was condemned to death with LXXIII others, whom he nobly exhorted to constancy by his words. constancy in torments.
[5] It is remarkable that these authors, though Spanish, bring forward scarcely any other document besides the authority of Primus of Belluno: for although Ferrarius cites the records of the Church of Ilerda, it does not necessarily follow that he himself inspected them; but he is accustomed sometimes to refer the reader to them as likely to find something more certain there.