Saint Martina
![[painting of Saint Martina]](saintm2g.jpg "30kb jpg detail from 'Virgin and Child with Saint Martina and Saint Agnes' by El Greco, 1597-1599, oil on canvas, National Gallery of Art, Washington, District of Columbia, USA; please do not write to ask about the image")
- Memorial
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30 January;
formerly 20 January;
removed from the general calendar in 1969, but not local ones
- Profile
- Wealthy daughter of a Christian Roman consul.
On her parent's death, she gave away her riches to the poor and devoted herself to prayer.
Tortured and martyred in the persecution of Alexander Severus for refusing to sacrifice to pagan gods.
A basilica is dedicated to her at the Roman forum.
In the time after her death there were a series of biographies and descriptions of her martyrdom written, each more extravagant that the last, and none with historical value.
Assorted miracles were ascribed to her, and her story was blended with those of other early martyrs, especially Saint Prisca and Saint Tatiana of Rome.
One of the writers claimed that when she was beheaded, her body bled milk, a tale that led to her patronage of nursing mothers.
- Died
- martyred in 228;
relics discovered on 25 October 1634 in a crypt near Mamertine prison at the Roman forum during a church construction project ordered by Pope Urban VIII
- Canonized
- Pre-Congregation
- Patronage
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nursing mothers;
Rome, Italy
- Representation
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maiden with a lion;
being beheaded by a sword;
tortured by being hung on a two-pronged hook;
receiving a lily and the palm of martyrdom from the Virgin and Child
- Additional Information
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Google Directory
Catholic Online
Lives of the Saints, by Father Alban Butler
Catholic Encyclopedia, by Léon Clugnet
For All The Saints, by Katherine Rabenstein
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