Statua
di Sant'Efisio, nell'omonima chiesa di Cagliari
Saint Ephise
Apôtre de la
Sardaigne (3ème s.)
Apôtre de la Sardaigne, originaire sans doute de Palestine, Elia-Capitolina, nom de Jérusalem à cette époque. Il fut décapité pour la foi. Il est le patron de Cagliari.
En 1650, une épidémie de peste tua la moitié de la population de Cagliari. Les habitants se tournèrent vers Saint Ephise, un martyr décapité en 303 à Nora sur la côte pour avoir refusé de renier la foi chrétienne. Il était commandant d'une division romaine de l'armée de l'empereur Dioclétien et, lors d'un voyage en Sardaigne où il devait supprimer les communautés chrétiennes de l'île, il eut une vision comme Saint Paul sur le chemin de Damas...
Festival de Sant'Efisio à Cagliari (en anglais) le 1er mai.
Voir aussi (en italien) Sant'Efisio, martire.
SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/5166/Saint-Ephise.html
Sagra
Sant'Efisio (CA). La statua di Sant'Efisio all'uscita dell'omonima chiesa
Also
known as
Ephysius of Cagliari
Efisio…
Efeso…
Ephesus…
Ephise…
Ephysus…
1 May (some
confraternity calendars)
Profile
In Rome, Italy,
Ephysius gained the favour of emperor Diocletian who
made him governor of
the island of Sardinia. Convert to Christianity. Diocletian then
had him stripped of office, tortured and murdered. Martyr.
Born
in Palestine
beheaded in 303 on Sardinia, Italy
relics transferred
to Pisa, Italy
locations in Italy
Cagliari,
city of
Cagliari, archdiocese of
young soldier receiving
a banner and sword from
an angel
receiving a vision of
Christ before a battle
young man
tied to a stake and preaching to
his torturers
Additional
Information
A
Garner of Saints, by Allen Banks Hinds, M.A.
Book
of Saints, by the Monks of
Ramsgate
Roman
Martyrology, 1914 edition
Saints
of the Day, by Katherine Rabenstein
books
Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
Oxford Dictionary of Saints, by David Hugh Farmer
Saints
and Their Attributes, by Helen Roeder
other
sites in english
images
sites
en français
fonti
in italiano
MLA
Citation
‘Saint Ephysius of
Sardinia‘. CatholicSaints.Info. 16 December 2023. Web. 26 August 2026.
<https://catholicsaints.info/saint-ephysius-of-sardinia/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-ephysius-of-sardinia/
Cocchio
con la statua di sant'Efisio all'interno della chiesa di Stampace, Cagliari
Article
EPHYSIUS (Saint) Martyr
(January 15) (4th century) A Palestinian who, coming to Rome, gained the favour
of the Emperor Diocletian, and was by him made Governor of the Island of
Sardinia, where he was converted to Christianity, and in consequence degraded
from his office, tortured and beheaded about A.D. 303.
MLA
Citation
Monks of Ramsgate.
“Ephysius”. Book of Saints, 1921. CatholicSaints.Info. 14
December 2012.
Web. 26 August 2026. <http://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-ephysius/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-ephysius/
Ephysius of Sardinia M
(RM)
(also known as Efeso,
Efisio, Ephysus of Cagliari)
Died 303 (?). Saint
Ephysius was said to have been martyred in Sardinia under Diocletian, one of
the fiercest persecutions. Nothing is known of his life, except his martyrdom.
An ancient church was dedicated to him and there was an early translation of his
relics to Capo di Pula (12 miles from Cagliari). The enduring cultus of
Ephysius is witnessed by a series of paintings by Spinello Arietino in Pisa
cathedral and by confraternities in his honor that held processions on May 1.
During the Italian wars against the French in the last century, his cultus
received new impetus when the defeat of the French was attributed to Ephysius's
intercession, and he was named commander-in-chief of the Sardinian forces.
Thus, in modern times, this local saint's posthumous help in battle was found
credible and worthy of civil recognition. He is still greatly venerated on the
island, while his relics lie at Pisa (Benedictines, Farmer).
In art Saint Ephysius is
a young warrior receiving a banner and a sword from an angel. At times (1)
Christ appears to him before battle, (2) in an oven or at the stake with the
flames turning on his tormentors, or (3) beheaded at Cagliari (Roeder). He is
the patron of Pisa and Sardinia (Roeder).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0115.shtml
St. Ephysius
Feastday: January 15
Death: 303
A martyr revered
on Sardinia, Italy. He was martyred on that island.
SOURCE : https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=3145
A Garner of
Saints – Ephesus and Potitus
Article
(French: Ephyse) Ephesus
was born at Jerusalem in the third century. He came to Rome and undertook
public offices. Being appointed governor of Sardinia by Diocletian, with
instructions to persecute the Christians, he proceeded thither. But on the way
a cross appeared to him in the air, and a voice addressed him, calling him by
name. Seized with fear, and overcome with conviction, he gave up everything –
employment, honours, riches – and after receiving baptism he went to Sardinia
to preach to the people. The news of his conversion having reached Rome,
Diocletian appointed another governor, named Julius, with instructions to take
Ephesus and try him as a Christian. Arrived at Cagliari, the new governor
caused him to be apprehended, and finding that promises and threats were
equally unavailing, had recourse to torture. While he was being beaten with
rods, Ephesus asked to be taken to the Temple of Apollo. This was immediately
granted. Arrived at the temple, Ephesus knelt and prayed, and the building at
once fell down with a frightful noise, to the terror of the bystanders. The
Governor then caused Ephesus to undergo fresh tortures, and finally cut off his
head. Potitus, a Sardinian Christian, suflered with Ephesus. 15
January and 13
February.
Attribute
cross
MLA
Citation
Allen Banks Hinds, M.A.
“Ephesus and Potitus”. A Garner of Saints, 1900. CatholicSaints.Info.
19 April 2017. Web. 26 August 2026.
<https://catholicsaints.info/a-garner-of-saints-ephesus-and-potitus/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/a-garner-of-saints-ephesus-and-potitus/
Sant’Efisio: 400 years of
faith.
A ceremony which is
renewed with unchanged devotion and is heading for its four hundredth edition.
The deep piety of an island which celebrates Saint Ephysius each year from 1 to
4 May. Cagliari hosts
the start of the pilgrimage which proceeds slowly under the watchful
coordination of the Archconfraternity of the Banner. A lot of work is put into
every edition of the festival, true to a tradition that started in 1657 when
the city’s authorities first fulfilled the vow they had made to the Martyr the
year before, when they had promised to honour him with a procession if he would
free the city from the plague.
Their prayers were
answered: the rains swept away the epidemic which had decimated the town’s
population. Since then, the rite has been repeated 357 times. Not even the
bombing of the city in 1943 could
interrupt the sequence – through broken streets and gutted buildings, the city
still welcomed the Saint carried on an old truck followed by a small group of
the bravest faithful. Nothing in comparison with today’s great feast with
thousands of participants who gather here wearing their traditional costumes to
intone prayers of thanks and sing ancient religious songs, or goccius, to
the haunting melodies of the launeddas (reed
pipes). But it is as the cortege leaves the city, heading for the small church
of Giorgino, that one can best appreciate the deep devotion to Saint Ephysius.
The first stopover is at the small church at Villa Ballero: the statue is
transferred from its elegant gilded carriage to a country cart, and its gaudy
garments are replaced by simpler clothing. After Su Loi (Capoterra), the statue
reaches Villa d’Orri where the holy Eucharist is celebrated in the chapel of
the Manca di Villahermosa family. Then on to another mass at Sarroch, in the
church of Santa Vittoria.
On the second day, a
stopover at Villa San Pietro then on to Pula and
the church of San Giovanni Battista and a short halt in the small church of San
Raimondo before reaching Nora. From the small church of Sant’Efisio, on the
third day the procession wends its way towards the beach where the Saint was
martyred, before starting its return trip. The Saint reaches Cagliari in the
late evening of 4 May, its route lit by the flames of torches.
SOURCE : http://www.sardegnaturismo.it/en/article/sant%E2%80%99efisio-400-years-faith
THE FESTIVAL OS
SANT’EFISIO
In 1652 Sardinia was
afflicted by a plague. Half the population of Cagliari died. Everywhere there
was death and desperation. Then the people turned to Efisio di Elia, a martyred
saint, who had been beheaded in the year 303 in Nora which is on the coast of
Cagliari for refusing to deny the Christian Faith. Efisio was the commanding
officer of a garrison of the Roman Emperor Diocleziano's army and was in
Sardinia to suppress the Christian communities on the island. However, during a
trip he had a vision similar to the one Paul had on the way to Damascus. After
seeing the vision Efisio changed from persecutor into the most ardent follower
of Christ. When he was asked to deny the Christian Faith he refused and was
sentenced to death. He was imprisoned in Cagliari (where today there is a
church dedicated to him) and was then moved secretly to the coast of Cagliari
in order to prevent the people from protesting against his sentence. Efisio was
beheaded by a Roman soldier on the beach of Nora.
The worship of Sant' Efisio spread throughout Cagliari and Sardinia. The crypt in Stampace, which was the prison where Efisio was kept, became a centre of spirituality and afterwards, in Nora, the place of Efisio's martyrdom, a charming little aisleless church, nowadays submerged below the sea, was built.
The name of Sant' Efisio became inextricably linked with Cagliari and Sardinia
after the plague of 1650 which was the same plague Manzoni described in his
famous book "I Promessi Sposi".
SOURCE : http://www.sardi.it/sardinia/efis1.htm
Enrico Reffo (1831-1917), Madonna col
Bambino, sant'Efisio e il beato Giovenale Ancina, olio su tela, chiesa di San
Filippo, Torino ; San Filippo Neri (Turin) -
Interior
Sant' Efisio di Cagliari Martire
sec. III-IV
Emblema: Palma
La popolarità di questo
santo, soprattutto in Sardegna e a Cagliari in particolare, dove il 1° maggio
si svolge la solenne processione detta "il calendimaggio
cagliaritano", dovuta al racconto del suo martirio scritto da un certo
prete Mauro, che asserisce di essere stato tra i testimoni della gloriosa morte
di S. Efisio "a principio usque ad finem", cioè dall'inizio dei
terribili supplizi, ai quali il martire fu sottoposto, fino alla conclusione
del cruento dramma. Gli studiosi non ne sono per nulla convinti e ritengono
l'autore di questa Passio, scritta dopo la liberazione della Sardegna dai
Saraceni, un insigne falsario.
E’ difficile infatti
dargli credito là dove afferma di aver fatto il racconto del martirio di Efisio
su preghiera di questi, perché la sua morte per Cristo fosse di esempio ai
posteri. La scarsa originalità del suo racconto ha fatto pensare al plagio
degli Atti del martirio di S. Procopio, martire palestinese. Il Martirologio
Romano pone il martirio di S. Efisio a Cagliari, il 15 gennaio, durante la
persecuzione scatenata dall'imperatore Diocleziano.
Pochi sono gli episodi
originali e presumibilmente autentici narrati dal maldestro biografo di S.
Efisio. Ciononostante questo testo ha avuto una straordinaria popolarità e ha
fornito lo spunto a raffigurazioni pittoriche degne di ammirazione, come gli
affreschi di Spinello Aretino, che in sette mesi, a partire dal settembre del
1391, dipinse nel Camposanto di Pisa l'intero ciclo della vita del martire
cagliaritano.
Il Lanzoni, nel suo commento
al Martirologio Romano, dice: "Al tempo delle invasioni barbariche le
reliquie del santo sarebbero state rimosse da una chiesuola, che esiste ancora
presso Capo Pula, non lungi dall'antica Nora, e trasportate dentro Cagliari per
maggiore sicurezza. In verità quella chiesa ha restituito due iscrizioni
cristiane antiche, quantunque non datate. Ma nulla si conosce del martire,
fuori della sua passione.
Una volta S. Efisio era
venerato dai sardi insieme con S. Potito di Sardica, questi il 13 gennaio e S.
Efisio il 15. S. Potito, le reliquie del quale si venerano a Nora con quelle di
S. Efisio, fu creduto sardo, mentre egli senza dubbio appartenne a Sardica. Fu
martire orientale anche S. Efisio. Il culto di quest'ultimo ebbe nel 1793 un
grande ritorno di fiamma, quando i sardi si opposero vittoriosamente ai
Francesi, che tentavano di impadronirsi dell'isola. S. Efisio, al quale venne
attribuito quel grosso successo militare, fu proclamato comandante supremo dei
combattenti.
Autore: Piero Bargellini
Il Lanzoni, con l'acume e
l'equilibrio che gli sono propri, ci informa che la passio di Efisio è assai
tarda e che fu composta probabilmente «dopo la liberazione dell'isola dai
Saraceni e sulla falsariga di quella di s. Procopio». Il suo martirio è posto a
Cagliari sotto Diocleziano il 15 gennaio o il 13 novembre. «Al tempo delle
invasioni barbarichele reliquie del santo sarebbero state rimosse da una
chiesuola, che esiste ancora presso Capo di Pula, non lungi dall'antica Nora, e
trasportate dentro Cagliari per maggior sicurezza. In verità quella chiesa ha
restituito due iscrizioni cristiane antiche, quantunque non datate. Ma nulla si
conosce del martire, fuori della sua passione. Una volta s. Efisio era venerato
dai Sardi insieme cons. Potito di Sardica, questi il 13 gennaio e s. Efisio il
15. San Potito, le reliquie del quale si veneravano a Nora con quelle di s.
Efisio, fu creduto sardo, mentre egli senza dubbio appartenne a Sardica. Fu
martire orientale anche s. Efisio».
I Bollandisti, nel
Commento al Martirologio Romano, dopo aver messo in rilievo che il prete Mauro,
autore della passio, asserisce di essere stato presente al martirio del santo
«a principio usque ad finem» e di averne fatto la narrazione su preghiera di
lui ad esempio dei posteri,concludono che si tratta di un insigne falsario, che
adattò al suo eroe gli Atti, a loro volta favolosi, di s. Procopio, martire in
Palestina. Infine il Delehaye (Les légendes hagiographiques, Bruxelles 1953,
pp. 135-36) nota che di originale negli Atti di Efisio non vi sono che alcuni
episodi marginali mal cuciti tra loro e alcuni nomi di luogo. Il
rimaneggiamento è così superficiale e grossolano che il racconto non ha neppure
l'apparenza della verosimiglianza. Ciononostante a Cagliari esiste unaantica
chiesa dedicata al nostro santo, restaurata nei secc. XVI e XVIII.
Fin dal Cinquecento sono
sorte confraternite in onore di Efisio e dal 1657 egli è festeggiato il 1°
maggio con una solenne processione detta «il calendimaggio cagliaritano». Nel
1793 i Sardi si opposero ai Francesi, che volevano impossessarsi dell'isola: la
loro vittoria fu attribuita ad Efisio, proclamato comandante supremo dei
combattenti.
Autore: Pietro
Burchi
SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/37800
Saint Éphise, Apôtre de l’île
de Sardaigne (286) : (http://orthodoxievco.net/ecrits/vies/synaxair/janvier/ephise.pdf
Sant’Efisio, la fête de la Sardaigne. Identité, passion et harmonie, l’événement le plus prenant et ressenti de toute l’Île entre en scène : https://www.sardegnaturismo.it/fr/santefisio-la-fete-de-la-sardaigne#
Saint Efisio et la fête
la plus célèbre de la Sardaigne : https://www.holyart.fr/blog/saints-et-bienheureux/saint-efisio-et-la-fete-la-plus-celebre-de-la-sardaigne/
The Festival of St.
Efisio, Smithsonian Magazine : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruP0-cxRsJM
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