Last Friday at Santa Severina the statue of was inaugurated Pope Zechariahthe 91st pope of the Catholic Church, who venerated him as a saint from 29 November 741 (consecration on 10 December) until his death [LEGGI QUI]. He was born in 679 near Santa Severina, in the province of Crotone, and is buried in the ancient basilica of San Pietro in the Vatican.
The Archbishop of Crotone-Santa Severina was present in the Crotone village Angelo Raffaele Panzetta who blessed the simulacrum, before a conference that ascertained the historical information on the San Severino priest who later became pontiff.
But San Zaccaria was not the only pontiff born in the province of Crotone: there are three of them. Namely San Zaccaria (Santa Severina), Zosimo (Mesoraca) and Sant’Antero. Pope Anteroborn in Strongoli(in Greek: Anteros; Petelia, … – Rome, 3 January 236) was the 1st9th bishop of Rome and Pope of the Catholic Church from 21 November 235 to 3 January 236. He is venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Churches.
He was therefore born in Petelia, a Magna Graecia city, to be identified with today’s Strongoli in the province of Crotone. We only know for sure about him that he reigned for about forty days and that he was buried in the famous “papal crypt” of the San Callisto cemetery in Rome. The Liber Pontificalis reports that he was martyred under the emperor Maximinus Thrax for having had the Acts of the martyrs collected by some notaries and then having them deposited in the archives of the Church of Rome. His relics are preserved in Giaveno, in the province of Turin.
In the Church of Santissimi Pietro e Paolo in Strongolientering on the right, there is a chapel dedicated to him and built in 1975, consecrated on January 26th as evidenced by a report bearing the signature of the Archdeacon Don Nicodemo Pignataro and the President of the ProLoco Salvatore Gallo.
Vincenzo Costa, from Strongole, wrote a volume dedicated to Pope of Strongoli (laws here)
