Munditia

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Munditia is also a genus in the family Turbinidae.

Saint Munditia
Relics of Munditia in St. Peter’s Church (Old Peter, Alter Peter), Munich.
Died	~310 AD?, Rome?
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church
Major shrine	St. Peter’s Church, Munich
Feast	17 November^[1]
Patronage	single, unmarried women^[2]
Saints Portal

Saint Munditia (Mundita) is venerated as a Christian martyr. Her relics are found on a side altar at St. Peter's Church (known as “Old Peter,” Alter Peter) in Munich. They consist of a gilt-covered and gem-studded skeleton, located in a glass case, with false eyes in her skull, which is wrapped in netting. Jewels cover the mouth of the relic’s rotten teeth.^[3]

Her relics were translated to Munich from Rome in 1675 from the catacombs of Cyriaca. They were transferred to her Baroque Era-shrine was built on September 5, 1677.

The inscription on the reliquary reads:

DDM MUNDICIE PROTOGENIE BENEMERENTI QUAE VIXIT ANNOS LX QUAE IBIT IN PACE XV KAL D ZUM FROMMEN GEDENKEN AN MUNDITIA PROTOGENIA DIE WOHLVERDIENTE: SIE LEBTE 60 JAHRE UND GING EIN IN DEN FRIEDEN AM 15. TAG VOR DEN KALENDEN DES DEZEMBERS (17. NOVEMBER) – APC

– Anonymous, Inscription on reliquary, ^[4]

The meaning of “APC” is unclear. The Roman document of authenticity states that it means “ASCIA PLEXA CAPITA” (“beheaded with a hatchet”), describing the manner of her martyrdom.^[5] APC may also refer to: "ANDRONICO PROBO CONSULIBUS”, referring to the fact that she martyred during the consulate of Andronicus and Probus, thus making her date of death as 310 AD.^[6]

In 1804, her relics were concealed behind a wooden shrine, but this removed in 1883, restoring interest in her cult. Her feast day is now celebrated annually with a High Mass and a procession with candles.^[7]

[edit] Cultural references

Vahni Capildeo's poem, called "Saint Munditia", is found in his collection No Traveller Returns, in which he describes the saint as being "dug up from her burial / a millennium and a third since the flesh fell off her. / She’s back in church."^[8]