Emerentiana () was a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

virgin and

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', 'witness' Word stem, stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external party. In ...

, who lived around the start of the 4th century. Her feast day is 23 January.

Legend

According to the legend of

Agnes of Rome Agnes of Rome (21 January 304) is a virgin martyr, venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church, Oriental Orthodox Churches, Oriental Orthodox Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church, as well as the Anglican Communion and Lutheranism, Lutheran Chu ...

, Emerentiana was her foster sister.Kirsch, Johann Peter. "St. Emerentiana." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 5. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909. 4 December 2015 Agnes was a rich Roman heiress who was martyred after refusing an engagement due to her

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

religion. Emerentiana's mother was the wet nurse and nanny of Agnes."St. Emerentiana of Rome", Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America
/ref> A few days after Agnes' death, Emerentiana, who was a

catechumen Catechesis (; from Greek: , "instruction by word of mouth", generally "instruction") is basic Christian religious education of children and adults, often from a catechism book. It started as education of converts to Christianity, but as the ...

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 In Christian theology, baptism of desire (, as the Holy Spirit is called the ''breath'' (''flamen'') of God), also called baptism by desire, is a doctrine according to which a person is able to attain the grace of justification through faith, pe ...

, or a baptism of blood, according to the tenets of the Catholic Church.

Veneration

There was a real Roman martyr named Emerentiana, whose cultus is very ancient, as attested by the martyrologies of

Jerome Jerome (; ; ; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was an early Christian presbyter, priest, Confessor of the Faith, confessor, theologian, translator, and historian; he is commonly known as Saint Jerome. He is best known ...

Bede Bede (; ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, Bede of Jarrow, the Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable (), was an English monk, author and scholar. He was one of the most known writers during the Early Middle Ages, and his most f ...

, and others, but not even the date of her death is known. In the nineteenth century her crypt in the

catacombs Catacombs are man-made underground passages primarily used for religious purposes, particularly for burial. Any chamber used as a burial place is considered a catacomb, although the word is most commonly associated with the Roman Empire. Etym ...

was discovered by Mariano Armellini. 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 does n ...

is 23 January. Formerly, in the martyrology of Jerome, her feast was commemorated on 16 September. Her cult has been confined to local calendars since 1969. She is represented as a young girl who either has stones in her lap and lilies in her hand, or as being stoned to death by a mob. Her tomb is in the church of

Sant'Agnese fuori le mura The church of Saint Agnes Outside the Walls () is a Titular church, titular churches of Rome, church, a minor basilica in Rome, on a site sloping down from the Via Nomentana, which runs north-east out of the city, still under its ancient name. W ...

in Rome. An altar dedicated to her with a marble relief by

Ercole Ferrata Ercole Ferrata (1610 – 10 July 1686) was an Italian sculptor of the Roman Baroque. Biography A native of Pellio Inferiore, near Como, Ferrata initially apprenticed with Alessandro Algardi, and became one of his prime assistants. When hi ...

depicting her martyrdom is in

Sant'Agnese in Agone Sant'Agnese in Agone (also called Sant'Agnese in Piazza Navona) 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 Christ ...

."Altar dedicated to Saint Emerentiana", Sant'Agnese in Agone
/ref> She is invoked against colic and stomach ache."S. Emerentiana, Virgin Martyr", The Brighton Oratory
/ref>

Popular culture

Emerentiana had a tiny

cameo role A cameo appearance, also called a cameo role and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief guest appearance of a well-known person or character in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking one ...

in Cardinal

Nicholas Wiseman Nicholas Patrick Stephen Wiseman (3 August 1802 – 15 February 1865) was an English Roman Catholic prelate who served as the first Archbishop of Westminster upon the re-establishment of the Roman Catholic hierarchy in England and Wales in 1 ...

's novel, '' Fabiola'', where she is seen mourning for Agnes right after the latter's martyrdom.

References

External links

Patron saint index
{{Authority control Year of birth unknown 304 deaths 4th-century Christian martyrs 4th-century Christian saints 4th-century Roman women 4th-century Romans Ancient Christian female saints Burials at Sant'Agnese fuori le mura Deaths by stoning Virgin martyrs

Legend

Veneration

Popular culture

See also

References

External links