Saint Anastasia of Sirmium

Anastasia was martyred at Sirmium (today Sremska Mitrovica, Serbia) during the persecution of Diocletian, around 304. Later legends say she was a Roman noblewoman who visited and cared for Christians in prison, and she became known in the East as the "deliverer from potions," a healer and protector. Her relics were taken to Constantinople, and her devotion spread to Rome, where a church at the foot of the Palatine Hill bears her name. Her name is one of the women martyrs listed in the Roman Canon (Eucharistic Prayer I).

For centuries the popes celebrated the second Mass of Christmas, the Mass at Dawn, at the Basilica of Sant'Anastasia in Rome, which is why she is commemorated on Christmas Day.