Today the Church remembers SS. Basilissa and Anastasia, Martyrs.
Orate pro nobis.
Basilissa and Anastasia were described as "Roman matrons of high rank and great wealth". They were disciples of and might have been baptized by the apostles Peter and Paul. When the emperor Nero (54-68 AD) persecuted Christians and gave them over to torture and execution, Basilissa and Anastasia took the bodies of the holy martyrs and gave them reverent burials, including Peter and Paul after their martyrdom in Rome on the same day in 67 AD. The location of the two tombs eventually became St. Peter's Basilica and the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls.
The burials exposed Basilissa and Anastasia to more persecution, and they were arrested for collecting the relics of and burying the bodies of other martyred Christians. They refused to recant their Christian faith and were beheaded with swords by order of Nero in 68 AD, after being tortured, including having their tongues torn out, their skins scraped with hooks, being burned with fire, and their breasts and feet cut off. Their relics are at Santa Maria della Pace Church in Rome. A statue of Basilissa is among the statues that line the colonnade overlooking St. Peter's Square in Rome.
Almighty and everlasting God, who kindled the flame of your love in the heart of your holy martyrs Basilissa and Anastasia: Grant to us, your humble servants, a like faith and power of love, that we who rejoice in their triumph may profit by their example; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.
Amen.
