St. Anastasius
Born: unknown
Died: January 22, 628
Canonized: pre-Congregation
Feast Day: January 22
Patron Saint of: goldsmiths
Magundat was one of the soldiers under Chosroes that transported the Holy Cross from Jerusalem to Persia. During that transportation, he learned of Jesus and His message. He later fulfilled his faith by joining a monastery in Jerusalem; it was then that he changed his name to Anastasius. After some seven years of monastic life, at the prompting of the Holy Spirit, he moved to Cęsarea where he was vocal in his condemnation of the practice of magic and fire worship, both of which he once believed in and participated in. Anastasius was taken prisoner and tortured in an attempt to make him give up this quest. Failing to get Anastasius to return to his senses, he was strangled to death and decapitated along with some 70 others on January 22, 628. His body was tossed into the gutter to be unceremoniously torn apart by wild dogs, but the dogs did not touch him.
