A

Read the essentials →
August 22 · Martyrs

Sts. Athanasius and…

Sts. Athanasius and Anthusa

Traditional feast

August 22
1914 / pre-1969 calendar, per Baring-Gould (1897)

Current feast

Not verified yet

Represents

Martyrs

Early life

The book says little or nothing about early life. This is how the account begins.

Thin entry · the 1897 book gives only 0 words. We have not filled the gap with invented detail.

What they represent

How they teach us to live

Drawn from themes in the original account

Keep their day. Remember them on August 22 with a short prayer, and ask for their help.

Read more

The full original · 0 words

Read Baring-Gould’s full account

Baring-Gould’s sources: Modem Roman Martyrology, inserted by Baronins. Greek Mensea and Menology of Basil. Authority: — Beside the mention in the Menology, a life and passion by Laurence of Ruti, in Greek, written in the 13th cent., and therefore of no great value.] Anthusa, a native of Seleucia, having learned something of Christ from two Christian slaves, Charisius and Neophy tus, went from her mother’s house to Tarsus with them, under pretence that she was going to visit her nurse. There she was baptized by Athanasius, Bishop of Tarsus. On her return, her mother, incensed at her conduct, refused to suffer her to re-enter the house. She therefore retired to a desert place and lived in solitude. But when in 257 Valerian issued his edict against the Christians, Anthusa, Athanasius, and the two slaves were arrested and put to death.

Feast days

Feast: August 22

Nine days · Free

Pray the novena
with us.

One short email a day for nine days. The day's prayer, a line from Sts. Athanasius and…'s story, and a nudge to keep going.

Also on August 22
S

St. Symphorian

August 22 · Martyr
St. Hippolytus

St. Hippolytus

August 22 · Bishop, Martyr
← All 1726 saints in the library
Sources & notes

Feast-day sources

Sources

Credits

From Sabine Baring-Gould, The Lives of the Saints, new edition in 16 vols. (London: John C. Nimmo, 1897–98); text from the Internet Archive scan (OCR, lightly cleaned; errors possible). Public domain.

From Sabine Baring-Gould, The Lives of the Saints, new edition in 16 vols. (London: John C. Nimmo, 1897–98); text from the Internet Archive scan (OCR, lightly cleaned; errors possible). Public domain in the United States. Reproduced unedited, except for short bracketed notes in grey that we added to explain names and terms (“S.” is the old abbreviation for Saint). Some history and judgments reflect 19th-century scholarship.