Agnellus of Ravenna, writing in 830/846 in his Liber Pontificalis Ecclesiae Ravennatis (23), mentions an altar dedicated to *Anastasia (martyr of Sirmium and Rome, S00602) in the cathedral of Ravenna (northern Italy). Written in Latin at Ravenna.
Evidence ID
E05778
Type of Evidence
Literary - Other narrative texts (including Histories)
Major author/Major anonymous work
Agnellus of Ravenna
Agnellus of Ravenna, Liber Pontificalis Ecclesiae Ravennatis 23
Agnellus tells how Ursus (bishop of Ravenna, 405-431) built the cathedral of the city (which then became known as the 'Ursiana') and dedicated it as the church of the Anastasis (Resurrection). Describing one wall of the building, he referred to an altar of saint Anastasia:
Qua Euserius et Paulus unam parietem exornauerunt parte mulierum, iuxta altarium sanctae Anastasiae, quod fecit Agatho
'Euserius and Paulus decorated one wall, on the women's side [of the church], next to the altar of saint Anasatasia, which Agatho made.'
Text: Deliyannis 2006, 170.
Summary: Frances Trzeciak.
Translation: Bryan Ward-Perkins.
Cult PlacesAltar
Protagonists in Cult and Narratives
Altar
Descriptions of cult places
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - bishops
Source
Agnellus of Ravenna (ob. c. 846) was a deacon of the cathedral in Ravenna. He wrote his Liber Pontificalis Ecclesiae Ravennatis between 830 and 846, following the model of the Roman Liber Pontificalis, with biographies of all the bishops of Ravenna from the legendary founder bishop Apollinaris to those active in is own day. The text is preserved in two manuscripts: one from the 15th c. (Modena, Biblioteca Estense Cod. Lat. 371 X.P.4.9.) and a fragmentary manuscript from the 16th c. in the Vatican Library (MS Vat. Lat. 5834). Agnellus based his account of the lives of the late-antique bishops on documents preserved in Ravenna, stories which had been transmitted orally, and on the inscriptions and mosaics which were visible in his day.For our purposes, Agnellus is most important as an author who recorded the dedicatory inscriptions and mosaics of the late-antique churches of the city and its surroundings, often transcribing inscriptions verbatim and thereby preserving the text of many inscriptions that are now lost. Agnellus' transcriptions of surviving inscriptions show him to have been an essentially accurate observer and transcriber.
Agnellus also records many late-antique dedications to saints, without quoting, or even citing, his source. These references are, of course, far less reliable than the instances when he quotes an original text. We have included several of these in our database, since Agnellus was well-informed, particularly when it came to ecclesiastical buildings, but have been careful to flag them as potentially unreliable.
Discussion
It is probable that Agnellus gained the information about the donor of the altar, Agatho, from an inscription on it, which is now lost. The date of the gift cannot be established, as Agatho is not identifiable; but it is possible that the altar dated from the time of Ursus' foundation, since it is evident that his church was in part decorated, and perhaps fitted out, by individual donors.However, even if the altar was an original fixture, we cannot be certain that it was dedicated to saint Anastasia from the beginning of the fifth century. It could have picked up this dedication at any point in the centuries up to Agnellus' day. We do, however, know that Anastasia was venerated in Ravenna in the sixth century: a church of the Goths dedicated to her is recorded in 551 (E08419), and she appears in the procession of female saints in Sant'Apollinare Nuovo (E06046).
That an altar was dedicated to saint Anastasia in the church of the Anastasis cannot be a coincidence, though it is impossible to reconstruct the precise thinking behind this.
Bibliography
Text:Deliyannis, Deborah Mauskopf, Agnelli Ravennatis Liber pontificalis ecclesiae Ravennatis (Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis 199; Turnhout, 2006).
Translation:
Deliyannis, Deborah Mauskopf, The Book of Pontiffs of the Church of Ravenna (Washington D.C., 2004).
Further Reading:
Deichmann, Friedrich Wilhelm, Ravenna, Hauptstadt des spätantiken Abendlandes, vol. 1-3, (Wiesbaden, 1958-89).
Deliyannis, Deborah Mauskopf, Ravenna in Late Antiquity (Cambridge, 2010).
Mackie, Gillian, Early Christian Chapels in the West: Decoration, Function and Patronage (Toronto, 2003).
Moffat, Ann, "Sixth Century Ravenna from the Perspective of Abbot Agnellus," in: P. Allen and E.M. Jeffreys (eds,), The Sixth Century – End or Beginning? (Brisbane, 1996), 236-246.
Morini, E., "Le strutture monastische a Ravenna," in: Storia di Ravenna, 2.2, Dall’età bizantia all’ età ottania, ed. A. Carile (Ravenna, 1992), 305-312.
Schoolman, Edward, Rediscovering Sainthood in Italy: Hagiography and the Late Antique Past in Medieval Ravenna (Basingstoke, 2016).
Stansterre, J. M., "Monaci e monasteri greci a Ravenna," in: Storia di Ravenna, 2.1, Dall’età bizantia all’ età ottania, ed. A. Carile (Ravenna, 1992), 323-329.
Verhoeven, Mariëtte, The Early Christian Monuments of Ravenna: Transformations and Memory (Turnhout, 2011).
Record Created By
Frances Trzeciak
Date of Entry
13/07/2018, added to 31/3/2023
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00602 | Anastasia, martyr of Sirmium and Rome | Anastasia | Uncertain |
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Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Frances Trzeciak, Cult of Saints, E05778 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E05778