Saint Marciana

Memorial

• 9 January

Profile

Young Christian girl who was beaten, tortured and handed over to gladiators as a sex toy during the persecutions of Diocletian; she brought one of the gladiators to Christianity. Accused of vandalizing an idol of the goddess Diana, she was thrown to wild animals in the arena. Martyr.

Born

• Rusuccuru, Mauritania

Died

• gored by a bull and mauled by a leopard in the amphitheater of Caesarea, Mauritania c.303

Canonized

• Pre-Congregation

Patronage

• cure of wounds

Representation

• woman gored by a bull
• woman carrying a palm of martyrdom while a leopard and bull stand nearby

Additional Information

• Abbe Stephane Ansart
• Book of Saints, by the Monks of Ramsgate
• Lives of the Saints, by Father Alban Butler
• Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints

MLA Citation

• “Saint Marciana“. Saints.SQPN.com. 9 January 2013. Web. 19 June 2013. <>