Emerentiana
Saint Emerentiana | |
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![]() Emerentiana's likeness on the Royal Gold Cup | |
Died | ca. 304 Rome, Roman Empire |
Venerated in | Roman Catholicism, Antiochian Orthodox Church |
Major shrine | Basilica of Sant'Agnese fuori le mura, Rome, Italy |
Feast | January 23 |
Attributes | young woman with stones in her lap and lilies in her hand; young lady being stoned to death |
Patronage | stomach problems |
Saint Emerentiana was a Roman martyr, who lived around the start of the 4th century. Her feast day is January 23.
Life[]
According to the legend of St. Agnes, Emerentiana was her foster-sister. [1] St. Agnes was a rich Roman heiress who was martyred after refusing her engagement due to her Christian religion. Emerentiana's mother was the wet nurse and nanny of Saint Agnes.[2]
A few days after Agnes' death, Emerentiana, who was a catechumen still learning about Christianity before being officially baptized, went to the tomb to pray and was suddenly attacked by the pagans, stoned to death by the crowd.[1]
Veneration[]
Her feast day is January 23,[1] 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.[3] An altar dedicated to her with a marble relief by Ercole Ferrata depicting her martyrdom is in Sant'Agnese in Agone.
Popular culture[]
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.
References[]
- ^ a b c Kirsch, Johann Peter. "St. Emerentiana." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 5. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909. 4 December 2015
- ^ a b "St. Emerentiana of Rome", Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America
- ^ David Farmer, Oxford Dictionary of Saints (Oxford University Press,1996) p157.
External links[]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Saint Emerentiana. |
- 304 deaths
- 4th-century Christian martyrs
- 4th-century Romans
- Ante-Nicene Christian female saints
- 4th-century Christian saints
- Burials at Sant'Agnese fuori le mura
- Deaths by stoning
- 4th-century Roman women