St. Chrysogonus of Aquileia, Martyr of the Roman Canon

Who was St. Chrysogonus?

Chrysogonus was a Christian martyr who died near Aquileia, the great Roman city at the head of the Adriatic, probably in the persecution of Diocletian at the beginning of the 4th century. Catholics hear his name at Mass whenever the priest prays the Roman Canon: "Lawrence, Chrysogonus, John and Paul, Cosmas and Damian." His name is Greek and means "golden-born."

What history can say about him is short. The oldest list of martyrs in the West, the so-called Martyrologium Hieronymianum, names him twice, on May 31 and November 24, with the note "in Aquileia." He was buried there and venerated by the faithful of that region. Recent scholarship, summarized by the Croatian historian Trpimir Vedriš, places his first shrine at San Canzian d'Isonzo, a few miles from Aquileia, where the martyrs Cantius, Cantianus and Cantianilla were also buried.

From Aquileia to Rome

Very early, his cult traveled to Rome. In Trastevere a church called the Titulus Chrysogoni is first mentioned in the signatures of a Roman synod in 499, and it probably goes back to the 4th century. The Catholic Encyclopedia gives two possibilities: either the church's founder was a Roman named Chrysogonus and the martyr's name attached itself to it, or it was dedicated to the martyr from the start for reasons now lost. Either way, the Basilica of San Crisogono still stands in Trastevere, rebuilt more than once, with remains of the older church preserved beneath it.

The legend of St. Chrysogonus and St. Anastasia

About the 6th century a story grew up that tied Chrysogonus to another martyr whose cult had come to Rome, St. Anastasia of Sirmium. The Catholic Encyclopedia calls it a legend written "evidently to explain" his veneration in Rome. It is traditional, and the Orthodox Church tells it on December 22.

In the legend, Chrysogonus is a Christian official in Rome and the teacher of Anastasia, the daughter of a noble named Praetextatus. When Diocletian's persecution began, he was thrown into prison. Anastasia, locked in her house by her pagan husband Publius, wrote to him secretly, and he answered her letters with comfort. The Orthodox life says he told her "to be patient, to cleave to the Cross of Christ, and to accept the Lord's will," and foretold that Publius would die at sea, which came true.

Diocletian then sent for Chrysogonus at Aquileia. The emperor questioned him himself and could not make him deny Christ, so he had him beheaded and his body thrown into the sea. The waves brought the body ashore, where an aged priest named Zoilus found it and buried it in his house. In the Orthodox telling, Chrysogonus then appeared to Zoilus and sent Anastasia to strengthen three young sisters, Agape, Chionia and Irene, before their martyrdom.

Miracles and legends of St. Chrysogonus

• His letters and prophecy to Anastasia (traditional). They belong to the 6th-century legend.
• His appearance to the priest Zoilus (traditional), from the same story as the Orthodox Church keeps it.
• The coming of his relics to Zadar (traditional). Zadar's tradition holds that his relics were brought there in the mid-7th century; Vedriš calls this translation "legendary," while the city's devotion is very real.

No miracle of his has been formally investigated, since he lived long before the Church's canonization process.

Why St. Chrysogonus is the patron of Zadar

The city of Zadar, on the Croatian coast, counts Chrysogonus among its patron saints, and its Benedictine nuns call him "the martyr, patron of the city." The city's Romanesque church of St. Chrysogonus (Sveti Krševan), a three-aisled basilica with three richly decorated apses and Romanesque-Byzantine frescoes inside, is named for him, and tradition holds that his relics came to the city in the 7th century. See other patron saints of cities and places on our patron saints page.

Symbols of St. Chrysogonus in art

St. Chrysogonus appears in two very different ways.

• As an early Christian martyr: in the 6th-century mosaics of Ravenna he wears the white tunic and cloak of a Roman gentleman and carries a martyr's crown in covered hands. In the great procession of martyrs at Sant'Apollinare Nuovo he walks between palm trees with Polycarp, Vincent and Pancras toward Christ.
• As a knight on horseback: from the Middle Ages on, Venice and Zadar showed him as a mounted soldier with a lance and banner, much like St. George but without the dragon. Michele Giambono's panel in the church of San Trovaso in Venice is the best known. Medieval glass medallions from Dalmatia show the same rider.
• A book or letters: in scenes from the legend, his letters to Anastasia.

If you see a young armored rider with no dragon in a church of Venice or the Dalmatian coast, it may well be Chrysogonus.

St. Chrysogonus's feast day and relics

We keep his feast on November 24, the day the Roman Martyrology gives for him. It was on the General Roman Calendar until the 1969 reform, which left it to local calendars. He is still named every day in the Roman Canon. The Eastern churches honor him on December 22 with St. Anastasia. See more saints of November on our feast days page.

In Rome, the Basilica of San Crisogono keeps a hand and the top of a skull said to be his, brought there in the 15th century. Santi e Beati records that they were taken away in 1846 and returned in 1850, and that the reliquary was stolen in the 1960s and found a few days later, without its case, at Santa Maria in Trastevere. They are now at the high altar. Other relics are venerated at Zadar.

Prayer to St. Chrysogonus

The oldest prayer that names St. Chrysogonus is the Roman Canon itself. In the Communicantes of Eucharistic Prayer I, the priest calls to mind Mary, Joseph, the Apostles and a list of early martyrs, among them "Lawrence, Chrysogonus, John and Paul, Cosmas and Damian," and asks that through their merits and prayers we may be defended in all things by God's protection.

Let us ask St. Chrysogonus to pray for teachers who encourage others in their faith, for prisoners, and for the people of Zadar and Aquileia.