Discover Romanesque: Peoples and Legends

Saint Antiochus

The tradition has it that Antiochus was born at the end of the 1st century A.D. in Mauritania, at the time annexed to the Roman Empire, His mother Rosa educated him and his brother Platano to the Christian faith. According to a source of the 18th century (Vita, Invenzione e Miracoli del glorioso Martire Sant'Antioco detto volgarmente Sulcitano by Father Tommaso Napoli), Antiochus studied medicine, making use of his knowledge just to do good, without any profit. Rumours about his behaviour had reached the emperor Adrian, who was living in Africa at that time. Called before the sovereign, tortured and accused of plotting against the empire, Antiochus managed to pass all the trials he had to face, to be eventually sent to exile. After reaching the shores of Sulcis island, in Sardinia, he was left to his destiny and died in a cave, waiting for Roman guards to take him to Cagliari. The place where he died hosted the first core of one of the most significant monumental complexes in Sardinia, Sant’Antioco di Sulci, named after the Saint. The wonderful Romanesque cathedral of Sant’Antioco di Bisarcio, in the countryside of Ozieri, is also dedicated to the martyr of Sulcis.