St. Susanna

St. Susanna (280 - 11 Aug 295)

Susanna of Rome (fl. 3rd century) was a Christian martyr of the Diocletianic Persecution. Her existing hagiography, written between about 450 and 500, is of no historical value and the relations it attributes to Susanna are entirely fictitious. It is probable that a real martyr named Susanna lies behind the literary invention.

Her feast day is on 11 August in the Roman Martyrology, but since 1969 her veneration has been limited to the Church of Santa Susanna in Rome. She has no connection to Saint Tiburtius, who is commemorated on the same day. The Church of Santa Susanna was originally that of Gaius, but by 595 it was named after Susanna, possibly because of the popularity of her hagiography.

Legend

Saint Susanna, virgin and martyr, is said to have been the daughter of Saint Gabinus of Rome. The lengthy account given of her in mediaeval legend is, however, unreliable. The account claims that on her refusal to marry a pagan relative of the Emperor Diocletian, she was arrested as a Christian.

According to her Acts, she was beheaded about the year 295, at the command of Diocletian, in her father's house, which was turned into a church together with the adjoining one belonging to her uncle, the prefect Caius or, according to other accounts, Pope Caius. The church became known as Sancta Susanna ad duas domos.

References

Sources

• Saint Susanna, wikipedia
• Saint Susanna, wikiwand
• Susanna the Virgin
• Virginmartyr Susanna (OCA)
• St. Susanna, Virginmartyr
• Images

Susanna the Virgin

The holy and glorious Martyr Susanna the Virgin was the daughter of Presbyter Gavinius and a niece of the Holy Bishop Caius of Rome (283-296). She was raised in strict Christian piety and in her youthful years dedicated herself to God. The family of the saint was related to the emperor Diocletian (284-305), who heard reports of her virtue and beauty. The Church celebrates her feast day on August 11.

Having decided to give St. Susanna in marriage to his co-ruling emperor Maximian Hercules (286-305), Diocletian sent his own kinsman, the dignitary Claudius, to the priest Gavinius, and then his own brother Maximus. Both of them, together with the wife of Claudius Prepedigna and her sons Alexander and Cythius, accepted Baptism after conversation with the pious family. Having learned that the entire family of his relatives had been converted to Christianity, Diocletian sent them into exile.

Soon they burned the martyrs at Ostia, not far from Rome, and threw the ashes into the sea. They took the holy virgin Susanna to the palace, and the empress tried to persuade her to submit. But the empress, secretly a Christian, supported the martyr in her intention to preserve her virginity for the sake of the Lord. She explained to the emperor about the virgin's unwillingness to enter into marriage with a pagan. Diocletian gave permission to his co-ruler to defile the holy virgin, but an angel defended her.

[Macedonius] began to urge the martyr to offer sacrifice to the idols. "I offer myself in sacrifice to my Lord," she answered. Then Macedonius cut off the martyr's head. The empress secretly buried the body of the saint. The room where the murder occurred was consecrated into a church by the holy Bishop Caius. Soon the father of St. Susanna, Presbyter Gavinius, accepted a martyr's end, as did St. Caius in the year 296.