Emerentiana

Last updated

Emerentiana
British Museum Emerentiana stoned.jpg
Emerentiana's likeness on the Royal Gold Cup
Virgin and martyr
Diedcirca 304
Rome, Roman Empire
Venerated in
Canonized Pre-Congregation
Major shrine Basilica of Sant'Agnese fuori le mura, Rome, Italy
Feast 23 January
Attributes young woman with stones in her lap and lilies in her hand; young lady being stoned to death
Patronage stomach problems

Emerentiana (Italian : Emerenziana) was a Roman virgin and martyr, who lived around the start of the 4th century. Her feast day is 23 January.

Contents

Legend

According to the legend of Agnes of Rome, Emerentiana was her foster sister. [1] Agnes was a rich Roman heiress who was martyred after refusing an engagement due to her Christian religion. Emerentiana's mother was the wet nurse and nanny of Agnes. [2]

A few days after Agnes' death, Emerentiana, who was a catechumen still learning about Christianity before being officially baptised, went to the tomb to pray and was suddenly attacked by the pagans. Having professed her faith and acknowledged her relationship to Agnes, she was stoned to death by the crowd. In this way, she can be considered to have undergone a baptism of desire, or a baptism of blood, according to the tenets of the Catholic Church. [1]

Emerentiana with stones in her lap Villedieu-les-Poeles (France), statue of Saint Emerentiana.JPG
Emerentiana with stones in her lap

Veneration

There was a real Roman martyr named Emerentiana, whose cultus is very ancient, as attested by the martyrologies of Jerome, Bede, and others, but not even the date of her death is known. [3] In the nineteenth century her crypt in the catacombs was discovered by Mariano Armellini. [4] Her feast day is 23 January. [1] Formerly, in the martyrology of Jerome, her feast was commemorated on 16 September. [1] Her cult has been confined to local calendars since 1969. [5]

She is represented as a young girl who either has stones in her lap and lilies in her hand, [2] or as being stoned to death by a mob. Her tomb is in the church of Sant'Agnese fuori le mura in Rome. [6] An altar dedicated to her with a marble relief by Ercole Ferrata depicting her martyrdom is in Sant'Agnese in Agone. [7]

She is invoked against colic and stomach ache. [3]

Emerentiana had a tiny cameo role in Cardinal Nicholas Wiseman's novel, Fabiola , where she is seen mourning for Agnes right after the latter's martyrdom.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agnes of Rome</span> Christian virgin and saint

Agnes of Rome is a virgin martyr, venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church, Oriental Orthodox Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church, as well as the Anglican Communion and Lutheran Churches. She is one of several virgin martyrs commemorated by name in the Canon of the Mass.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philomena</span> Virgin martyr and saint

Philomena, also known as Saint Philomena or Philomena of Rome was a virgin martyr whose remains were discovered on May 24–25, 1802, in the Catacomb of Priscilla. Three tiles enclosing the tomb bore an inscription, Pax Tecum Filumena, that was taken to indicate that her name was Filumena, the English form of which is Philomena. Philomena is the patron saint of infants, babies, and youth, and is known as "The Wonderworker".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margaret the Virgin</span> Saint (275–304) usually shown with a dragon

Margaret, known as Margaret of Antioch in the West, and as Saint Marina the Great Martyr in the East, is celebrated as a saint on 20 July in Western Christianity, on 30th of July by the Eastern Orthodox Church, and on Epip 23 and Hathor 23 in the Coptic Orthodox Church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saints Faith, Hope and Charity</span> Group of 2nd century Christian female saints

Saints Faith, Hope, and Charity, are a group of Christian martyred saints who are venerated together with their mother, Sophia ("Wisdom").

<span class="mw-page-title-main">May 1 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)</span>

Apr. 30 - Eastern Orthodox Church calendar - May 2.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">May 31 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)</span>

May 30 - Eastern Orthodox Church calendar - June 1

<span class="mw-page-title-main">August 1 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)</span>

July 31 - Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar - Aug. 2

<span class="mw-page-title-main">August 11 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)</span>

August 10 - Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar - August 12

<span class="mw-page-title-main">August 13 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)</span>

August 12 - Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar - August 14

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sant'Agnese in Agone</span> Church in Rome, Italy

Sant'Agnese in Agone is a 17th-century Baroque church in Rome, Italy. It faces onto the Piazza Navona, one of the main urban spaces in the historic centre of the city and the site where the Early Christian Saint Agnes was martyred in the ancient Stadium of Domitian. Construction began in 1652 under the architects Girolamo Rainaldi and his son Carlo Rainaldi. After numerous quarrels, the other main architect involved was Francesco Borromini.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">January 1 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)</span> Day in the Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar

December 31 - Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar - January 2

<span class="mw-page-title-main">January 23 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)</span> Day in the Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar

January 22 - Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar - January 24

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eugenia of Rome</span> Roman Christian martyr (died c 258)

Eugenia of Rome was an early Christian Roman martyr whose feast day is celebrated on December 25 in the Roman Catholic Church, on December 24 in the Eastern Catholic Churches and Eastern Orthodox Church, and on January 23 in the Armenian Apostolic Church. She is included in the Golden Legend.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martinian and Processus</span> Christian martyrs

Martinian and Processus were Christian martyrs of ancient Rome. Neither the years they lived nor the circumstances of their deaths are known. They are currently buried in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark and Marcellian</span> Roman martyrs venerated as saints

Mark and Marcellian are martyrs venerated as saints by the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church. Their cult is sometimes associated with that of Saints Tranquillinus, Martia, Nicostratus, Zoe, Castulus, and Tiburtius, though not in the official liturgical books of the Church, which mention only Mark and Marcellianus among the saints for 18 June. Their mention in the General Roman Calendar on that date from before the time of the Tridentine calendar was removed in the 1969 revision, because nothing is known about them except their names, the fact of their martyrdom, and that they were buried on 18 June in the cemetery of Santa Balbina on the Via Ardeatina.

Flavia Domitilla was a Roman noblewoman of the 1st century AD. She was a granddaughter of Emperor Vespasian and a niece of Emperors Titus and Domitian. She married her second cousin, the consul Titus Flavius Clemens, a grand-nephew of Vespasian through his father Titus Flavius Sabinus.

Rictius Varus was a Vicarius in Roman Gaul at the end of the 3rd century, around the time of the Diocletianic Persecution. The Roman Martyrology contains many references to the prefect Rixius Varus, who is said to have persecuted hundreds of Christians. In Christian hagiography he later repented and became a Christian martyr himself, and is regarded a Saint in the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches, with his feast day on July 6.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christina of Bolsena</span> Christian martyr

Christina of Bolsena, also known as Christine of Bolsena, or in the Eastern Orthodox Church as Christina the Great martyr, is venerated as a virgin martyr of the third century. Archaeological excavations of an underground cemetery constructed over her tomb have shown that she was venerated at Bolsena by the fourth century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christina of Persia</span> Sasanian Persian noblewoman and Christian martyr

Christina, born Yazdoi, was a Sasanian Persian noblewoman and Christian venerated after her death as a virgin martyr.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Woman with seven sons</span> Jewish martyr described in 2 Maccabees 7

The woman with seven sons was a Jewish martyr described in 2 Maccabees 7. She and her seven sons arrested during the persecution of Judaism initiated by King Antiochus IV Epiphanes. They were ordered to consume pork and thus violate Jewish law as part of the campaign. They repeatedly refuse, and Antiochus tortures and kills the sons one by one in front of the unflinching and stout-hearted mother before eventually killing her as well.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Kirsch, Johann Peter. "St. Emerentiana." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 5. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909. 4 December 2015
  2. 1 2 "St. Emerentiana of Rome", Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America
  3. 1 2 "S. Emerentiana, Virgin Martyr", The Brighton Oratory
  4. Broderick, Bona F. (1897). "Mariano Armellini: De Rossi's Successor". Catholic World. 64: 84–96. Retrieved February 6, 2024.
  5. "St Emerentiana", The British Museum
  6. David Farmer, Oxford Dictionary of Saints (Oxford University Press,1996) p157.
  7. "Altar dedicated to Saint Emerentiana", Sant'Agnese in Agone