Anthimus of Rome

About Anthimus of Rome

The Roman Anthimus is known chiefly through the cult associated with the Via Salaria and the later Passion of Anthimus and companions. Vatican News’s account says he was hidden in a villa on the road near Rome and was killed after being denounced. The source presents a devotional narrative, not contemporary documentation; the surviving Latin Passion was composed centuries later and is judged historically weak by modern scholarship. These limits prevent a reliable reconstruction of his chronology, social background, or exact role in the Roman church.The Latin-hagiography catalog records a Passion concerning Anthimus, Sisinnius, and companions. Its existence helps identify the literary source behind the Roman martyr tradition, but does not independently verify the events it narrates. The Roman Catholic calendar entry preserved by Vatican News is May 11. The older April 27 entry instead names Anthimus, bishop and martyr, at Nicomedia; it should not be used as the feast source for this Roman figure. No exact birth or death date, office, or death location is entered.