Prisca was a young

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 ...

woman tortured and executed for 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 ...

faith. The dates of her birth and death are unknown. She is revered as a saint 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 ...

Eastern Orthodoxy Eastern Orthodoxy, otherwise known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity or Byzantine Christianity, is one of the three main Branches of Christianity, branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholic Church, Catholicism and Protestantism ...

, by the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, and in the

Anglican Communion The Anglican Communion is a Christian Full communion, communion consisting of the Church of England and other autocephalous national and regional churches in full communion. The archbishop of Canterbury in England acts as a focus of unity, ...

. Though some legends suggest otherwise, scholars do not believe she is the Priscilla (Prisca) of the

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

couple

Priscilla and Aquila Priscilla and Aquila were a first-century Christian missionary married couple described in the New Testament. Aquila is traditionally listed among the Seventy Disciples. They lived, worked, and traveled with the Apostle Paul, who described them ...

, who were friends of the

Apostle Paul Paul, also named Saul of Tarsus, commonly known as Paul the Apostle and Saint Paul, was a Apostles in the New Testament, Christian apostle ( AD) who spread the Ministry of Jesus, teachings of Jesus in the Christianity in the 1st century, first ...

.Kirsch, Johann Peter. "St. Prisca." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 12. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 13 Jun. 2009 She is honored, especially in England, as a child martyr. January 18 is her feast day.

Legend

Legend says that Saint Prisca was of a noble family. At age thirteen, she was supposedly baptized by St. Peter.

Emperor Claudius Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; ; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54), or Claudius, was a Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Drusus and Antonia Minor at Lugdu ...

ordered her to make a sacrifice to the god

Apollo Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...

. When she refused because of her Christian faith, she was beaten and sent to prison. She was at last thrown to a

lion The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'', native to Sub-Saharan Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body (biology), body; a short, rounded head; round ears; and a dark, hairy tuft at the ...

in the

amphitheater An amphitheatre ( U.S. English: amphitheater) is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports. The term derives from the ancient Greek ('), from ('), meaning "on both sides" or "around" and ('), meaning "place for vie ...

, but it quietly lay down at her feet. The Italian poet Martha Marchina (1600–1646) describes this moment of Prisca's martyrdom in a pair of poems in her book '' Musa Posthuma'', where the lion's humane nature is contrasted against human savagery. She was starved for three days in a slaves' prison house, tortured upon the rack, and thrown on a burning pile. Brown, Abbie Farwell
Prisca, the Child Martyr." Baldwin Online Children's Project. June 13, 2009
/ref> Still she remained alive, but was beheaded at the tenth milestone on the

Via Ostiensis The Via Ostiensis () was an important road in ancient Rome. It runs west from the city of Rome to its important sea port of Ostia Antica, from which it took its name. The road began near the Forum Boarium, ran between the Aventine Hill and t ...

—the road from Rome to Ostia.

Commentary

It is difficult to establish the true identity of this Roman martyr since the various information concerning her probably refers to three different people.Bargellini, Piero. "Santa Prisca", Santi e Beati, February 1 2001
/ref> There exists on the Aventine a church of St. Prisca. It stands on the site of a very early title church, the Titulus Priscoe, mentioned in the fifth century and built probably in the fourth. In the eighteenth century there was found near this church a bronze tablet with an inscription of the year 224, by which a senator named Caius Marius Pudens Cornelianus was granted citizenship in a Spanish city. As such tablets were generally put up in the house of the person so honoured, it is possible that the senator's palace stood on the spot where the church was later built. The assumption is probable that the Prisca who founded this title church, or who, perhaps as early as the third century, gave the use of a part of the house standing there for the Christian church services, belonged to the family of Pudens Cornelianus. The grave of a martyr Prisca was venerated in the Roman Catacomb of Priscilla on the Via Salaria. The place of interment is explicitly mentioned in all the seventh-century itineraries to the graves of the Roman martyrs. Whether the martyr buried in the Catacomb of Priscilla belonged to the same family or was identical with the founder of the title church cannot be proved. Still some family relationship is probable, because the name Priscilla appears also in the senatorial family of the Acilii Glabriones, whose burial-place was in the Catacomb of Priscilla on the Via Salaria. The ''Martyrologium Hieronymianum'' mentions under 18 January a martyr named Priscilla on the Via Salaria. This Priscilla is evidently identical with the Prisca whose grave was in the Catacomb of Priscilla and who is mentioned in the itineraries of the seventh century. A legend from the eighth century has identified the founder of the Titulus Priscoe with St. Paul's friend Priscilla, whose home would have occupied the spot on which the church was later erected. Another legend relates the martyrdom of a Prisca who was beheaded at the tenth milestone on the Via Ostiensis, and whose body Pope Eutychianus is said to have translated to the church of Prisca on the Aventine. The whole narrative is unhistorical and its details impossible. As 18 January is also assigned as the day of the execution of this Priscilla, she is probably the same as the Roman martyr buried in the Catacomb of Priscilla. Her feast is observed on 18 January. The ''Acta S. Priscae'', which places her martyrdom under Claudius II (268–270) and the burial on the Via Ostiense, from which his body would later be taken to the Aventine, has no more credibility than the legend, which places Prisca at the time of Peter in Rome.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prisca 1st-century deaths 1st-century Romans 1st-century Roman women 1st-century Christian saints 1st-century Christian female saints 1st-century Christian martyrs Christian child saints Year of birth unknown Legendary Romans