Ansanus

Ansanus
Jacopo della Quercia , Saint Ansanus
Born	284 (Rome)
Deceased	304 (Dofana)
Holiday	December 1
Place of worship	Siena Cathedral
Patron saint	Siena
Attributes	Palm tree

Ansanus (* 284 in Rome ; † December 1, 304 in Dofana ) was a Roman citizen who, according to tradition, brought Christianity to Siena, then Saena Julia , a Roman colony, and evangelized the population; he is venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church.

There is no precise information about Saint Ansanus other than that he was Roman and came from a wealthy family called Anicia. The rest is largely oral tradition, which is not supported by historical documents. He is the patron saint of the city of Siena .

Life according to the legend

He was born in 284 as the son of Senator Tranquillinus of the Anicia family and professed his faith in Christ at a very young age, during the time of the persecution of Christians .

He came into contact with Christianity through his educator Maxima and was discovered and denounced by his father Tranquillino himself. In 302 Maxima suffered martyrdom while Ansanus escaped. After he managed to escape, he drove along Via Cassia to Bagnoregio ( VT ) and then to Allerona near Orvieto .

According to legend, he went to Siena at the invitation of an angel , where he joined the relatives of Pope Lucius I , the martyr, in 254 .

"Egli [Ansano] trovò in Siena nientemeno che i parenti di Papa Lucio martire, sfuggiti alla persecuzione, e dai quali originarono i Luci, nobile famiglia senese. Unito con essi la efficacia della predicazione facea crescere il numero dei battezzati ogni giorno. »

“He (Ansanus) found nothing else in Siena than the relatives of Pope Lucius the martyr, who escaped persecution and from whom the Luci, a noble Sienese family, descended. Along with them, the effect of the sermon has resulted in the number of baptized people increasing every day. "

- Giuseppe Rondoni : Siena e l'antico contado senese. Tradizioni popolari e leggende di un comune medioevale e del suo contado

In Siena Ansanus began preaching the gospel and baptizing the first Christians. Ansanus received the title of "Sienese Baptist" because of the numerous baptisms.

But also in Siena there were opponents and so he had to endure a divine judgment with a " fire test and boiling oil", which he survived unharmed. The legend tells that this divine judgment was carried out in the area "Fosso di Sant'Ansano". But that was not enough for the Roman authorities and he was imprisoned in a tower on the orders of the proconsul Lisia, which, according to legend, is in Via San Quirico next to the small church Carceri di Sant'Ansano . From this tower he had the converted Sienese baptized. From here he was only brought to the locality of Dofana on December 1, 304 (or according to other sources 303) , where he was beheaded and later a chapel was built in his name.

The relic

Giovanni di Paolo , Ansanus baptizes the Sienese

Duccio , Maestà , Siena, Opera del Duomo: Ansanus is the first to kneel on the left

The body was buried for centuries in Dofana in the parish church consecrated to him, which was in the territory of the Diocese of Arezzo until 1975 , when in 1107 the Bishop of Siena, Gualfredo, and that of Arezzo, Gualtiero, agreed on ownership of the relic: The The Sienese were able to recover the remains of Ansanus (it is said on February 6th) and bring them to the cathedral . Instead, the saint's head was brought to Arezzo , where it is still kept in a silver reliquary in the cathedral. In 1359 Ansano's body was burned after being struck by lightning. The left arm remained in Dofana and the right arm in Siena. A finger can be seen in the parish church of Pieve di San Giovanni Battista a Sant'Ansano in the municipality of Vinci .

Adoration

As evidence of the spread of the cult around the young martyr, churches and chapels dedicated to him have sprung up both in Tuscany and outside the region. In addition to Bagnoregio, Allerona , of which he is the patron, and Siena , the place where Ansanus preached and died, there are Churches of the Savior Ansanus near Spoleto , in Seravezza ( LU ), in Monte Aceraia in the municipality of Borgo San Lorenzo , in Fiesole (FI) and in Petrignano del Lago ( PG ). He is the main patron of the city and the archdiocese of Siena , the liturgical commemoration takes place on December 1st. In Siena, with the feast of St. Ansanus, the year of the contrades begins.

He is also the patron saint of the municipality of Anzano di Puglia , where the worship of Anzanus was reintroduced in 2006 after an old 19th century statue was rediscovered and restored. The saying of the day of Sant'Anzano is (in the local dialect): "Sant'Anzan, vruoccl e patan" ("Saint Anzanus, broccoli and potato"). On the day of Saint Ansanus, bonfires are organized in honor of the saint in every neighborhood of the village.

literature

• Umberto Meattini: Sant'Ansano. La storia e la leggenda . Cantagalli, Siena 1995.

Web links

Commons : Heiliger Ansanus  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Ansano di Siena ( it ) In: Santi, beati e testimoni - Enciclopedia dei santi .

Remarks

1. ↑ Luca Fusai: La storia di Siena dalle origini al 1559 . Il Leccio, Siena 1987, pp. 29 (Italian).
2. ↑ Giuseppe Rondini: Siena e l'antico contado Senese. Tradizioni popolari e leggende di un comune medioevale e del suo contado . Uffizio della rassegna nazionale, coi tipi di M. Cellini e C., Florence 1886, p. 82 (Italian).