Susanna of Rome (fl. 3rd century) was a Christian martyr of the Diocletianic Persecution. Her existing

hagiography A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian hagiographies migh ...

, written between about 450 and 500 AD, is of no historical value and the relations it attributes to Susanna are entirely fictitious.Michael Lapidge, ''The Roman Martyrs: Introduction, Translations, and Commentary'' (Oxford University Press, 2018), pp. 270–71. It is probable that a real martyr named Susanna lies behind the literary invention.Basil Watkins, ''The Book of Saints: A Comprehensive Biographical Dictionary'', 8th rev. ed. (Bloomsbury, 2016), p. 696.According to David Hugh Farmer, ''The Oxford Dictionary of Saints'', 5th rev. ed. (Oxford University Press, 2011), s.v. "Tiburtius and Susanna", her legend was written around an actual entry in a martyrology. Her

feast day The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context d ...

is on 11 August in the '' Roman Martyrology'', but since 1969 her veneration has been limited to the

Church of Santa Susanna The Church of Saint Susanna at the Baths of Diocletian ( it, Chiesa di Santa Susanna alle Terme di Diocleziano) is a Roman Catholic parish church located on the Quirinal Hill in Rome, Italy. There has been a titular church associated to its site ...

in Rome. She has no connection to Saint Tiburtius, who is commemorated on the same day. The Church of Santa Susanna was originally that of Gaius, but by 595 it was named after Susanna, possibly because of the popularity of her hagiography. In addition to her main shrine in Rome, a church exists in Santiago de Compostela dedicated to her; it was first built in the early twelfth century after her relics were translated from Braga to Compostela by Diego Gelmírez according to the ''

Historia Compostelana The (fully titled in la, De rebus gestis D. Didaci Gelmirez, primi Compostellani Archiepiscopi) is an anonymously-written historical chronicle based on the relation of events by a writer in the immediate circle of Diego Gelmírez, second bisho ...

''. Susanna is the co-patron of the city along with St. James.

Legend

Saint Susanna, virgin and martyr, is said to have been the daughter of Saint Gabinus of Rome. The lengthy account given of her in mediaeval legend is, however, unreliable. The account claims that on her refusal to marry a pagan relative of the Emperor

Diocletian Diocletian (; la, Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus, grc, Διοκλητιανός, Diokletianós; c. 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed ''Iovius'', was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Gaius Valerius Diocles ...

, she was arrested as a Christian. According to her ''Acts'', she was beheaded about the year 295, at the command of Diocletian, in her father's house, which was turned into a church together with the adjoining one belonging to her uncle, the prefect Caius or, according to other accounts,

Pope Caius Pope Caius (died 22 April 296), also called Gaius, was the bishop of Rome from 17 December 283 to his death in 296. Little information on Caius is available except that given by the ''Liber Pontificalis'', which relies on a legendary account of t ...

. The church became known as Sancta Susanna ad duas domos. Susanna is mentioned in the Roman Martyrology for 11 August in the following terms: "At Rome, commemoration of Saint Susanna, in whose name, which was mentioned among the martyrs in ancient lists, the basilica of the titular church of Gaius at the Baths of Diocletian was dedicated to God in the sixth century."''Martyrologium Romanum'' (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2001 ) The commemoration of her that was included in the General Roman Calendar was removed in 1969 because of the legendary character of the ''Acts'' of her martyrdom.''Calendarium Romanum'' (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1969), p. 134

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Susanna 3rd-century Romans 3rd-century Roman women Ante-Nicene Christian female saints Susanna Italian saints Legendary Romans Christians martyred during the reign of Diocletian Virgin martyrs