Today's saintAll livesDecember saints
AO

Devotional card

St. Anysia of Thessalonica

Saint-specific image not yet available.

This devotional card is shown because a saint-specific image is not yet available.

Saints and feasts

St. Anysia of Thessalonica

Martyr

Anysia was a Christian of Thessalonica killed while going to the assembly of the faithful. Butler recounts her refusal to be forced into pagan worship from the traditional Greek acts.

Sources

The life below remains the existing Butler-based reading, with its edition citation. The profile preserves the feast date and source title already listed in the library. Additional personal dates and historical details are shown only when separately documented.

City remembered: Thessalonica
The traditional Greek acts place her encounter with the soldier while she was going to the Christian assembly.

Butler sourceAlban Butler, The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints, Volume XII (December), Thomas Richardson and Son, Derby, for the Catholic Book Society, 1846; December 30, “St Anysia, Martyr,” pp. 481-482.

Butler’s Lives of the Saints (1846)Alban Butler, The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints, Volume XII (December), Thomas Richardson and Son, Derby, for the Catholic Book Society, 1846; December 30, “St Anysia, Martyr,” pp. 481-482.

The reading

ⓘ Butler source

Alban Butler, The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints, Volume XII (December), Thomas Richardson and Son, Derby, for the Catholic Book Society, 1846; December 30, “St Anysia, Martyr,” pp. 481-482.

Anysia was a young Christian of Thessalonica whose parents had died. Butler places her story during persecution, when the authorities sought to prevent Christian assemblies. She set out to join the faithful despite that danger.

The traditional Greek acts describe an encounter with a soldier who stopped her and tried to compel her to take part in pagan sacrifice. She identified herself as a servant of Jesus Christ and resisted the attempt. The soldier killed her with his sword.

Butler records her remembrance in both the Roman Martyrology and Eastern calendars on December 30. The traditional acts preserve her confession of Christ during an encounter marked by coercion and violence. Her commemoration remembers a Christian who remained faithful while seeking to worship with the Church.

Historical note

An original Novena Regina reading adapted and summarized from the cited pre-1962 source. This is not a transcription of Butler’s words.

The encounter and reported dialogue come from the traditional Greek acts cited by Butler. The commemoration is December 30.

Carry this reading into prayer

Act of Charity

Ask God for love of Him and your neighbor, and carry this reading into your own life.

Pray now →

Keep reading

Nearby saint lives

Move through the calendar without leaving the saint library. These nearby feast-day lives help keep the reading trail connected.

Previous feast

Ss. Sabinus and Companions

December 30

Next feast

St. Silvester I

December 31

Browse December saintsBrowse all saint livesGo to today's feast
More prayers, novenas and litanies

More devotions

Continue in prayer

Choose a connected devotion or a clearly labeled general prayer.

Choose a novena

Find a novena for your intention

Browse existing novenas by the need you want to bring to prayer.

Choose a novena

Pray with all the saints

Litaniae Sanctorum

Invoke the communion of saints with the traditional Latin Litany of the Saints.

Pray the Latin litany

Keep learning

What is prayer?

Read question 1099 and its complete answer in the Baltimore Catechism.

Read the Beatitudes in Matthew 5