Saint Saint Anatolia

Saints Victoria, Anatolia, and Audax (Italian: Sante Vittoria, Anatolia, e Audace) are venerated as martyrs and saints by the Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church. Victoria and Anatolia are mentioned (without Audax) in the Roman Martyrology under the date of 10 July. Anatolia was first mentioned in the De Laude Sanctorum composed in 396 by Victrice (Victricius), bishop of Rouen (330–409). Anatolia and Victoria are mentioned together in the Martyrologium Hieronymianum under 10 July: VI idus iulii in Savinis Anatholiae Victoriae; Victoria is also mentioned alone under 19 December: In Savinis civitate Tribulana Victoriae. The two saints appear in the mosaics of Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, at Ravenna, between Saints Paulina and Christina. A Passio SS. Anatoliae et Audacis et S. Victoriae of the 6th or seventh century, which added the name of Audax, was mentioned by Aldhelm (died 709) and Bede (died 735), who list the saints in their martyrologies. Caesar Baronius lists Anatolia and Audax under 9 July and Victoria under 23 December. Their legend recounts that, in the time of the Emperor Decius, Anatolia and Victoria were sisters whose marriage was arranged to two noble, non-Christian Roman men. They resisted matrimony. Their prospective grooms were reluctant to denounce them as Christians as that would mean that the women's possessions would be forfeited to the state. They received permission to imprison the women on their estates and convince them to renounce their faith. Anatolia's suitor, Titus Aurelius, gave up, and handed her back to the authorities. Victoria's suitor, Eugenius, was more persistent, but also ended up returning her to the authorities. Victoria's legend states that she was stabbed through the heart in 250 AD at Trebula Mutuesca (today Monteleone Sabino) after chasing away a dragon terrorizing the residents in exchange for their conversion.