Basilissa and Anastasia

The Holy Martyrs Basilissa and Anastasia were two noblewomen of Rome, among the first converts to Christianity in the first century, put to death in the time of the emperor Nero, around 68. They are venerated by the Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Church and remembered on 15 April. They are the patrons of tailors.

They were women of the highest rank and great wealth. They were disciples of the Apostles Peter and Paul, who may also have baptized them. They are believed to have seen to it that the two apostles were honourably buried after their martyrdom in Rome, in the same year 67. On the site of the two tombs the Basilica of Saint Peter and the Basilica of Saint Paul outside the Walls were later built. Care for these tombs exposed them, and they were arrested for gathering the bodies of other Christians killed for the faith and burying them. They refused to renounce Christ and were beheaded with the sword by order of Nero in 68, after tortures, among them the tearing out of their tongues, the scraping of their skin with hooks, burning with fire and the cutting off of their breasts and feet. Their relics are at the church of Santa Maria della Pace in Rome. A statue of Basilissa is among those on the colonnade of Saint Peter's Square. Some scholars regard their existence as doubtful.