Felicitas of Rome
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| Saint Felicitas of Rome | |
|---|---|
.jpg/250px-Nuremberg_chronicles_-_Felicitas_with_her_Seven_Sons_(CXIIIIr).jpg) |
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| Born | 101? |
| Died | 165? |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church |
| Feast | 23 November |
| Attributes | woman in widow's weeds holding a palm; woman with a palm, book, and children at her feet; woman with Saint Andrew the Apostle; woman with seven sons |
| Patronage | parents who have lost a child in death; death of children; martyrs; sterility; to have male children; widows; Torricella Peligna and Isca sullo Ionio (just Martialis) |
 Saints Portal |
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Felicitas (Felicity) of Rome (2nd century) is a Christian saint. Apart from her name, the only thing known for certain about this martyr is that she was buried in the Cemetery of Maximus, on the Via Salaria on a 23 November.[1] However, a legend presents her as the mother of the Seven Holy Brothers Martyrs who were celebrated on 10 July.
The legend of Saint Symphorosa is very similar and their acts may have been confused. They may even be the same person.[1] This Felicitas is not the same as the North African Felicitas who was martyred with Perpetua.
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[edit] Historicity of Saint Felicitas
The feast of Saint Felicitas of Rome is first mentioned in the Martyrologium Hieronymianum as celebrated on 23 November. From a very early date her feast as a martyr was solemnly celebrated in the Roman Church on that date, as shown by the fact that on that day Gregory the Great delivered a homily in the basilica that rose above her tomb. Her body then rested in the catacomb of Maximus on the Via Salaria; in that cemetery all Roman itineraries, or guides to the burial-places of martyrs, locate her burial-place, specifying that her tomb was in a church above this catacomb.[2] The crypt where Felicitas was laid to rest was later enlarged into a subterranean chapel, and was rediscovered in 1885.
[edit] The Seven Holy Brothers
The 10 July feast that was known by this name arose through a conflation of four distinct commemorations of martyrs falling on that day.[3] Their names and their places of burial were:
- Saints Alexander, Vitalis, and Martial(is) (Cemetery of the Jordani, Via Salaria)
- Saint Januarius (Cemetery of Praetextatus, on the Via Salaria)
- Saints Felix and Philip (Cemetery of Priscilla, on the Via Salaria)
- Saint Silanus (in the Cemetery of Maximus, on the Via Appia)
[edit] Historicity of the seven martyrs of 10 July
The earliest list of the Roman feasts of martyrs, known as the Depositio Martyrum and dating from the time of Pope Liberius, in the middle of the fourth century, mentions these seven martyrs as celebrated on 10 July in the four different catacombs in which their bodies lay. To the name of Silanus it adds the statement that his body was stolen by the Novatians (hunc Silanum martyrem Novatiani furati sunt). It does not say that they were brothers.
The tomb of St. Januarius in the catacomb of Prætextatus belongs to the end of the second century, to which period, therefore, the martyrdoms, if they are in fact associated with one another, must belong, probably under Marcus Aurelius.
[edit] Legend linking together Felicitas and the seven martyrs
Felicity is said to have been a rich widow who had seven sons. She devoted herself to charitable work and converted many to the Christian faith. Pagan priests lodged a complaint against her with Emperor Marcus Antoninus Pius (or Marcus Aurelius). Felicity was brought before Publius, the prefect of Rome. He used various pleas and threats in an unsuccessful attempt to get her to worship the pagan gods and was equally unsuccessful with her seven sons who followed their mother's example.
Before the prefect Publius they adhered firmly to their religion, and were delivered over to four judges, who condemned them to various modes of death. The division of the martyrs among four judges corresponds to the four places of their burial. Felicity was forced to watch as her children were murdered one by one; after each one she was given the chance to denounce her faith. She refused and was beheaded in 165. She was buried in the catacomb of Maximus on the Via Salaria, beside Silvanus.
The Acts that give the above account of the seven martyrs as sons of Felicitas, existed, in some form, in the sixth century, since Gregory the Great refers to them in his Homiliæ super Evangelia, book I, homily iii.[4] The early twentieth-century Catholic Encyclopedia reported that "even distinguished modern archæologists have considered them, though not in their present form corresponding entirely to the original, yet in substance based on genuine contemporary records". But it went on to say that investigations had shown this opinion to be hardly tenable. The earliest recension of these Acts does not antedate the sixth century, and appears to be based not on a Roman, but on a Greek original. Moreover, apart from the existing form of the Acts, various details have been called in question. Thus, if Felicitas were really the mother of the seven martyrs honoured on 10 July, it is strange that her name does not appear in the well-known fourth-century Roman calendar. Her feast is first mentioned in the Martyrologium Hieronymianum, but on a different day, 23 November. The tomb of St. Silanus, one of the seven martyrs commemorated on 10 July, adjoined that of St. Felicitas and was likewise honoured; it is quite possible, therefore, that tradition soon identified the seven martyrs of 10 July as sons of St. Felicitas, and that this formed the basis for the extant Acts.[5]
[edit] Veneration and relics of Saint Felicitas
In an ancient Roman edifice near the ruins of the Baths of Titus there stood in early medieval times a chapel in honour of St. Felicitas. Some of her relics lie at the Capuchin church at Montefiascone, Tuscany. Others lie in the church of Santa Susanna in Rome.
[edit] Veneration of Saint Martialis
Martialis (Martial, Marziale), one of the alleged sons of Felicitas, was venerated as the patron saint of Torricella Peligna and Isca sullo Ionio, with his feast day occurring on July 10.[6][7]
[edit] References
- ^ Calendarium Romanum (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1969), p. 146
- ^ De Rossi, Roma sotterranea, I, 176-77
- ^ Calendarium Romanum (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1969), p. 129
- ^ P.L., LXXVI, 1087
- ^ Catholic Encyclopedia: St. Felicitas
- ^ http://saints.sqpn.com/saintmd8.htm
- ^ http://www.torricellapeligna.com/Amici%20Article126-english.html
[edit] External links
- Saints of November 23: Felicitas of Rome
- Patron Saints: Felicity of Rome
- St. Felicitas at the Catholic Encyclopedia
- Santa Susanna Church
This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913.
