Jana Michalcakova
Sapienza University of Rome, Italy; Palacky University Olomouc, Czech Republic
The paper is dedicated to the relics of the head of St. Anastasius of Persia, housed, according to the tradition, in the Tre Fontane Abbey in Rome and the Legend of Ansedonia, depicted in the cycle of frescoes from the 1220s, the remains of which can be found in the entrance gate of the above-mentioned abbey.
The research follows the work of Carlo Bertelli as well as Fernanda de’ Maffei’s of 1970. However, it is also based on the study performed by Carmela Vircillo Franclin in 2004, dedicated to the literary sources related to the St. Anastasius legend.
The transfer of the relics to Rome, to the Acque Salviae monastery, later on renamed to Tre Fontane abbey, is a milestone on the path leading to the cult of St. Anastasius. The subsequent milestone is the visit of the abbey by the Lombard king Liutprand. The Legend of Ansedonia of which the written version does not exist and the only preserved narrative evidence is its depiction in the abbey on the north-eastern and south-western walls of the entrance gate is the climax of the journey to the Victorious relics. The legend belongs to the group of autochthon legends and is a typical proof of their local use for political purposes. Only less than 35 % of the entire decoration has been preserved from the narrative cycle. Its present state allows satisfactory analysis of some of its fractions only; however, this is enhanced by aquarelles — copies made by Giovanni Eclissi, from between 1630–1640.
The privileged status of the Roman abbey lies in the fact that it represents an interface — a place where an eastern martyr was transformed into a western martyr and from where the cult of Victorious relics spread, the value of which was recognised by several political and church representatives involved in political-religious conflicts from the emergence of the cult in the first half of the 7th century up to the 13th century.
The paper aims to clarify the ideological relationship between the hagiography of St. Anastasius of Persia and the political theology from the time the legend appeared to the moment when it was used for political and ownership purposes of the Cistercian order.