Saint Asterius of Ostia (d. 3rd century AD) was a

martyred A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

. Information on this saint is based on the apocryphal ''Acts of Saint Callixtus''.Sabine Baring-Gould, ''The Lives of the Saints''. Vol. 2. (J. Hodges, 1877). Digitized June 6, 2007. Page 506. According to tradition, he was a priest of

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

who recovered the body of

Pope Callixtus I Pope Callixtus I, also called Callistus I, was the bishop of Rome (according to Sextus Julius Africanus) from c. 218 to his death c. 222 or 223.Chapman, John (1908). "Pope Callistus I" in ''The Catholic Encyclopedia''. Vol. 3. New York: Robert A ...

after it had been tossed into a well around 222 AD. Asterius buried Callixtus' body at night but was arrested for this action by the prefect Alexander and then killed by being thrown off a bridge into the

Tiber River The Tiber ( ; it, Tevere ; la, Tiberis) is the third-longest river in Italy and the longest in Central Italy, rising in the Apennine Mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing through Tuscany, Umbria, and Lazio, where it is joined by the Ri ...

. According to tradition, his body washed up at Ostia and was buried there.St. Asterius
Catholic Online

Veneration

Asterius was venerated from at least the 4th or 5th centuries. A saint with the same name, along with that of his daughter, were

translated Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transla ...

Pope Sergius II Pope Sergius II ( la, Sergius II; died 27 January 847) was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from January 844 to his death in 847. Sergius II's pontificate saw the Arab raid against Rome as well as the city's redevelopment. Rise ...

between 844 and 847 and rest in the Church of

San Martino ai Monti San Martino ai Monti, officially known as Santi Silvestro e Martino ai Monti ("Saints Sylvester & Martin in the Mountains"), is a minor basilica in Rome, Italy, in the Rione Monti neighbourhood. It is located near the edge of the Parco del Colle ...

on the

Esquiline The Esquiline Hill (; la, Collis Esquilinus; it, Esquilino ) is one of the Seven Hills of Rome. Its southernmost cusp is the ''Oppius'' (Oppian Hill). Etymology The origin of the name ''Esquiline'' is still under much debate. One view is ...

, according to

Anastasius the Librarian Anastasius Bibliothecarius or Anastasius the Librarian (c. 810 – c. 878) was ''bibliothecarius'' (literally "librarian") and chief archivist of the Church of Rome and also briefly a claimant to the papacy. Early life He was a nephew of Bis ...

. However, the “

Bollandists The Bollandist Society ( la, Societas Bollandistarum french: Société des Bollandistes) are an association of scholars, philologists, and historians (originally all Jesuits, but now including non-Jesuits) who since the early seventeenth century ...

think that this is the body of another Asterius.”

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Asterius Of Ostia 223 deaths Italian Roman Catholic saints 3rd-century Christian martyrs Year of birth unknown