Women Saints and Martyrs

August 29 St. Sabina . Sabina was converted to Christianity by her Syrian servant Serapia. During the persecution of Emperor Hadrian, Serapia suffered martyrdom for her Christian Faith . It is believed that St. Sabina was murdered for the Faith about a month later. The reknowned basilica on the Aventine in Rome is dedicated to and named after her. Some sources hold that Sabina herself had it constructed in the third or fourth century. In an age when our Faith is ridiculed as being outmoded, we take heart in the lives of so many martyrs, like St. Sabina, who gave their lives under terrible conditions to defend and sustain their Faith. This confers on us a strong desire to persevere in God's love. St. Basilla . A holy virgin who was martyred at Smyma or at Sirmium, now Mitrovica, in former Yugoslavia. St. Candida. A martyr of the Ostian Way, Rome. Candida's remains are enshrined in St. Praxedes church, and were blessed by Pope St. Pasehal I in the ninth century. She was one of a ...

August 22 St. Ethelgitha . Benedictine abbess of Northumbria, England. August 23 Sts. Asterius and Companions, 303 A.D. Martyr with his brothers Claudius and Neon. In the persecution conducted by Emperor Diocletian, the brothers were denounced by their stepmother to Lysias, the proconsul of Cilicia. The brothers were scourged to death for the faith. Domnina, a Christian woman, was also beaten to death , and Theonilla, a Christian widow, was beaten and burned to death with live coals. St. Tydfil, 480 A.D. Welsh martyr, reportedly from the clan of Brychan. She was slain by a group of pagan Picts or Saxons and is venerated at Merthyr-Tydfil, Glamorgan. Wales. St. Ascelina , 1195 A.D. Cistercian mystic and relative of St. Bernard. She was born in 1121 and entered the Cistercian convent at Boulancourt, Haute-Marne, France. There she was known for her mystical gifts. St. Ebba , 870 A.D. Abbess of Coldingham, England, on the Scottish border, called “the Younger.” She and her nuns were marty...

August 15 St. Limbania , 1294 A.D. Benedictine nun and hermitess of Genoa, Italy. She was a Cyprian by birth who remained in a cave in Genoa. August 16 St. Beatrix da Silva , 1490 A.D. Cistercian abbess born in Portugal in 1424. The daughter of a nobleman, Beatrix accompanied Princess Isabel of Portugal to the court of Spain. There she entered a Cistercian convent of Santo Domingo de Silos in Toledo. Also, she founded the Congregation of the Immaculate Conception. Her cult was confirmed in 1926, and she was canonized in 1976. St. Serena , 290 A.D. According to the Acts of St. Cyriacus, the wife of Emperor Diocletian. It is known that Prisca was the wife of that particular emperor. Bl. Mary Magdalen Kiota, 1620 A.D. Martyr of Japan . A princess of Japan and relative of a local lord, she was a Dominican tertiary. Arrested for sheltering missionaries, she was burned alive at Nagasaki . Mary was beatified in 1867. August 17 St. Clare of Montefalco . Clare was born at Montefalco, Italy, aro...

August 7 St. Claudia . Claudia was the mother of Linus, who became the second Pope. The daughter of British King Caractacus, who was sent to Rome with his family in chains when he was defeated by Aulus Plautius. Released by Emperor Claudius, one of his daughters took the name Claudia, remained in Rome, was baptized, and is the Claudia mentioned in St. Paul's second letter to Timothy. Another tradition has her the daughter of Cogidubnus, a British ally of Claudius, who took the Emperor's name. Martial mentions a British lady, Claudia Rufina, and says she was married to his friend Aulus Pudens, a Roman senator. Another tradition has this senator the Pudens also mentioned in St. Paul's second letter to Timothy. August 8 Bl. Mary MacKillop , 1909 A.D. The first native Australian to be beatified. Born Mary Helen MacKillop in Melbourne, she was of Scottish ancestry. Concerned with the poor and suffering, Mary founded the Sisters of St. Joseph and of the Sacred Heart. ...

August 1 St. Elined. Welsh virgin and martyr , also called Ellyw and Almedha. She is honored in Lianelly and Llanelieu. St. Hope . According to an Eastern allegory explaining the cult of Divine Wisdom, Faith, Hope, and Charity were the daughters of Wisdom, a widow in Rome. The daughters suffered martyrdom during Hadrian's persecution of Christians: Faith, twelve, was scourged and went unharmed when boiling pitch was poured on her, was beheaded; Hope, ten, and Charity, nine, were also beheaded after emerging unscathed, from a furnace; and Wisdom died three days later while praying at their graves. St. Sofia . According to an Eastern allegory explaining the cult of Divine Wisdom, Faith, Hope, and Charity were the daughters of Wisdom (known as Sofia in the Roman Martyrology on September 30th), a widow in Rome. The daughters suffered martyrdom during Hadrian's persecution of Christians: Faith, twelve, was scourged and went unharmed when boiling pitch was poured on her, was beheaded...