Hesychius lived in Antioch of Syria, now Turkiye, at the time of the tetrarchy (4th century) After an edict by the emperor Maximian Galerius which ordered that those who did not want to sacrifice themselves to idols had to leave the military uniform, Hesychius without hesitation preferred the love of Christ and resigned. Precisely for this reason he was prosecuted, then arrested and sentenced to be thrown into the Oronte river with a ballast attached to his body.

Tales of the statue in Dome’s building site:

The statue depicting Hesychius is a reproduction of the original work sculpted in 1835 by Gaetano Matteo Monti. A plaster model created by the artist is preserved in the Cathedral Museum which portrays the Saint in the same pose: the bust is slightly rotated, he holds, while observing it, a cross in his left hand, while the right hand is already firmly tied to the boulder that will lead to martyrdom in the Oronte river. Small curiosity: inside the Cathedral, on the capital of pylon P.84, there is a statue identical to this one, it could be the original by Gaetano Matteo Monti which was moved inside to a position where it was less exposed to the elements.