November 2 is also the day in which the saints Acindino, Pegasio, and Anemmpodisto are celebrated, all martyrs in Persia between 310 and 370 AD. In those times Sapor II reigned, remembered for the ruthless persecutions he ordered, despite the freedom of religious belief that Emperor Constantine the Great had granted to his people before him. Anempodistus and the other future martyrs were considered a pillar of the Roman Empire, with which the king was at war: anyone who professed to be Christian was considered an enemy of Persia and therefore persecuted. When Sapor II had the three Saints captured and tortured, the incredible happened: the wounds of the three Christians miraculously healed and the iron chains that forced them into their cells broke, freeing them. Their death occurred around 350 AD, and their relics, after being transported from Persia to Constantinople, were deposited in a church specially built and dedicated to their cult.

Tales of the statue in Dome’s building site:

The statue that stands on the G75 spire is a reproduction of the original from 1834 and the attribution that sees it associated with the figure of Sant’Anempodisto is recent. Thanks to some archive documents relating to the approvals of the sculptures in the project, the identity of the original statue was traced back: “St. Anempodist – Persian martyr soldier”. The figure of the Saint is represented in civilian clothes and, while the right arm is bent with the index finger pointing upwards, the left one is lowered with the hand that originally held a spear.