Saint Restituta (''Santa Restituta of Africa''; died in AD 255 or 304) is a
Berber
Berber or Berbers may refer to:
Ethnic group
* Berbers, an ethnic group native to Northern Africa
* Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages
Places
* Berber, Sudan, a town on the Nile
People with the surname
* Ady Berber (1913–196 ...
saint
In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of Q-D-Š, holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and Christian denomination, denominat ...
and
martyr of the
Roman Catholic and
Eastern Orthodox Churches. She was said to have been born in
Carthage or
Teniza (presently Ras Djebel,
Tunisia) and martyred under
Roman Emperor Diocletian
Diocletian (; la, Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus, grc, Διοκλητιανός, Diokletianós; c. 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed ''Iovius'', was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Gaius Valerius Diocles ...
. The location and date of her martyrdom are not precisely known.
[Santa Restituta d'Africa (o di Teniza)](_blank)
/ref> She sometimes is considered one of the Martyrs of Abitinae
The Martyrs of Abitinae (or Abitinian Martyrs) were a group of 49 Christians found guilty, in 304, during the reign of the Emperor Diocletian, of having illegally celebrated Sunday worship at Abitinae, a town in the Roman province of Africa. The ...
, Roman Province of Africa, a group of North Africans including St. Dativus, St. Saturninus, et alia, who were martyred in AD 304.
Legend
A later medieval legend, recounted by Pietro Suddiacono in the 10th century and similar to legends associated with Saints Devota, Reparata, and Torpes of Pisa, states that after being horribly tortured, Restituta was placed in a blazing boat loaded with oakum and resin. Restituta was unharmed by the fire, and asked for aid from God. God sent an angel to guide her boat to the island of ''Aenaria'' (present-day Ischia), and she landed at the present-day site of San Montano. The legend further states that a local Christian woman named Lucina had dreamt of the angel and the boat. When she walked to the beach, she found the resplendent and incorrupt body of Restituta, who was now dead. Lucina gathered the population together and the saint was solemnly buried at the foot of Monte Vico in Lacco Ameno, where a paleochristian basilica was dedicated to her, and is now the site of a sanctuary dedicated to her.
Veneration
However, the spread of her cult from North Africa to Italy is historically associated with the expulsion of Catholics
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
from North Africa by Genseric, king of the Vandals, who followed the Arian
Arianism ( grc-x-koine, Ἀρειανισμός, ) is a Christological doctrine first attributed to Arius (), a Christian presbyter from Alexandria, Egypt. Arian theology holds that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, who was begotten by God t ...
sect. Her relics may have been brought to Naples in the fifth century by Gaudiosus of Naples when he was exiled from North Africa.[San Gaudioso di Abitine](_blank)
/ref>
A church, Santa Restituta, was built in her honour in Naples in the sixth century.
The church was then incorporated into the Cathedral of Naples
The Naples Cathedral ( it, Duomo di Napoli; nap, Viscuvato 'e Napule), or Cathedral of the Assumption of Mary ( it, Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, links=no), is a Roman Catholic cathedral, the main church of Naples, southern Italy, and the s ...
built on the same site in the 13th century.
She is the patron saint of Lacco Ameno.Catholic-Forum.com
/ref> She is especially venerated on the island of Ischia and at Lacco Ameno, where she is celebrated in a three-day celebration running from May 16 to May 18.crypt
A crypt (from Latin ''crypta'' "vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, sarcophagi, or religious relics.
Originally, crypts were typically found below the main apse of a chur ...
associated with Restituta can be found even in Sardinia at Cagliari
Cagliari (, also , , ; sc, Casteddu ; lat, Caralis) is an Italian municipality and the capital of the island of Sardinia, an autonomous region of Italy. Cagliari's Sardinian name ''Casteddu'' means ''castle''. It has about 155,000 inhabitant ...
, in the neighborhood of Stampace.
See also
* Martyrs of Abitina
* Avigliano Umbro in Umbria has a '' frazione'' called Santa Restituta.
* Saint Restituta, patron saint archive
References
External links
Santa Restituta
{{Authority control
3rd-century Christian saints
Bizerte
Carthage
Saints from Roman Africa (province)
Year of birth missing
255 deaths
Ischia