Saints Vincent & Anastasius, Martyrs
Ss. Vincentii et Anastasii Martyrum
The Church keeps on this day the memory of two martyrs of different lands and ages: Saint Vincent, a deacon of Saragossa who was put to death in Spain in the great persecution of Diocletian, and Saint Anastasius, a Persian convert and monk who laid down his life for Christ three centuries later.
Though separated by some three hundred years and by the breadth of the known world, Saints Vincent and Anastasius are honoured together on the twenty-second of January, the day on which each is recorded to have died. In the 1962 Missal the Mass is of Saint Vincent the Deacon, with a commemoration of Saint Anastasius. Their joint memory bears witness that the Church, gathered from every nation, glories in martyrs of East and West alike.
Saint Vincent of Saragossa
Saint Vincent was a deacon of the Church of Saragossa in Spain and the trusted minister of his bishop, Valerius. In the persecution of Diocletian, about the year 304, he was seized with his bishop and brought before the governor Dacian. When the aged Valerius, who was slow of speech, was sent into exile, it fell to the deacon Vincent to make the confession of faith for both. He endured frightful torments with a constancy that astonished his persecutors, and so passed to his reward. Saint Augustine, preaching on his feast more than once, marvelled that a young deacon could bear such sufferings, and saw in his courage the manifest power of the Holy Ghost. Devotion to Saint Vincent spread quickly through Spain, Gaul, and Africa, and his name was inscribed early in the Roman calendar.
Saint Anastasius the Persian
Saint Anastasius was born in Persia, the son of a Magian, and served as a soldier in the army of the Persian king. Moved by the report of the holy Cross, which had been carried off from Jerusalem, he came to faith in Christ, received Baptism, and embraced the monastic life at Jerusalem. Burning to give himself wholly to the Lord, he confessed the Faith openly and was arrested, imprisoned, and after long sufferings put to death in Persia about the year 628. His relics were afterward brought to Rome and venerated there, and the Second Council of Nicaea made honourable mention of an image of this martyr.
The breadth of the communion of saints
In joining a Spanish deacon of the fourth century with a Persian monk of the seventh, the Church sets before us the catholic, that is the universal, sweep of holiness. The grace that strengthened Vincent before Dacian is the same grace that drew Anastasius from the religion of his fathers to the Cross of Christ. Both teach the faithful that no birth is too distant, and no torment too severe, where the love of Christ has taken hold of the heart.
The Collect
Be present, O Lord, we beseech Thee, to our supplications: that we, who acknowledge ourselves guilty by reason of our wickedness, may be delivered by the intercession of Thy blessed Martyrs Vincent and Anastasius. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.
Adésto, quǽsumus, Dómine, supplicatiónibus nostris: ut, qui ex iniquitáte nostra reos nos esse cognóscimus, beatórum Mártyrum tuórum Vincéntii et Anastásii intercessióne liberémur. Per Dóminum nostrum Iesum Christum Fílium tuum, qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitáte Spíritus Sancti Deus, per ómnia sǽcula sæculórum. Amen.
Patronage
Saint Vincent of Saragossa is honoured as the patron of vintners and vinegar-makers, and is a celebrated patron of deacons; he is also venerated as a patron of the city of Lisbon.
In the Modern Calendar
In the modern calendar, Saint Vincent the Deacon is observed on the same day, 22 January, as an optional memorial; Saint Anastasius is no longer commemorated in the General Roman Calendar.
Common Questions
When is the feast of Saints Vincent and Anastasius?
It is kept on 22 January in the 1962 Roman Missal, as a Third-Class feast, with the Mass of Saint Vincent and a commemoration of Saint Anastasius.
Who was Saint Vincent?
He was a deacon of Saragossa in Spain who was martyred under the Emperor Diocletian, about the year 304. He is one of the most celebrated of the Spanish martyrs, praised by Saint Augustine.
Why are these two saints celebrated together?
Although Vincent died in Spain in the fourth century and Anastasius in Persia in the seventh, both are recorded to have suffered martyrdom on 22 January, and so the Church joins their memory on this day.
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