06/07/2023
SAINT PHILOMENA
Virgin and Martyr, Wonder Worker
Saint Philomena was a young consecrated virgin whose remains were discovered on May 24–25, 1802, in the Catacomb of Priscilla. Three tiles enclosing the tomb bore an inscription, Pax Tecum Filumena, that was taken to indicate that her name was Filumena, the English form of which is Philomena. Relics translated to Mugnano, Italy on 10 August 1805.
Born: 10 January 291 AD, Corfu, Greece
Died: 10 August 304 AD, Rome, Italy
Feast: August 11
Canonized: 30 January 1837 liturically canonized in an act of the ordinary Papal Magisterium, Vatican City by Pope Gregory XVI
Attributes: Youth, palm of martyrdom, flower crown, orange or white robes, palm, arrows, anchor, sometimes a partially slit throat
Major shrine: Sanctuary of Saint Philomena in Mugnano del Cardinale, Avellino, Italy
Also known as
- Filomena, Filumena, Philumena, Philomene
- Thaumaturga of the Nineteenth Century
- Wonder Worker of the Nineteenth Century
Little is known of her life, and the information was have was received by private revelation from her. Martyred at about age 13 in the early days of the Church.
In 1802 the remains of a young woman were found in the catacomb of Saint Priscilla on the Via Salaria, Rome, Italy. It was covered by stones, the symbols on which indicated that the body was a martyr named Saint Philomena. The bones were exhumed, cataloged, and effectively forgotten since there was so little known about the person.
In 1805 Canon Francis de Lucia of Mugnano, Italy was in the Treasury of the Rare Collection of Christian Antiquity (Treasury of Relics) in the Vatican. When he reached the relics of Saint Philomena he was suddenly struck with a spiritual joy, and requested that he be allowed to enshrine them in a chapel in Mugnano. After some disagreements, settled by the cure of Canon Francis following prayers to Philomena, he was allowed to translate the relics to Mugnano. Miracles began to be reported at the shrine including cures of cancer, healing of wounds, and the Miracle of Mugnano in which Venerable Pauline Jaricot was cured a severe heart ailment overnight. Philomena became the only person recognized as a Saint solely on the basis of miraculous intercession as nothing historical was known of her except her name and the evidence of her martyrdom.
- Pope Leo XII granted permission for the er****on of altars and churches in her honour
- Pope Gregory XVI authorized her public veneration, and named her patroness of the Living Rosary
- The cure of Pope Blessed Pius IX, while archbishop of Imola, was attributed to Philomena; in 1849, Pius named her patroness of the Children of Mary
- Pope Leo XIII approved the Confraternity of Saint Philomena, and raised it to an Archconfraternity
- Pope Pius X raised the Archconfraternity to a Universal Archconfraternity, and named Saint John Vianney its patron
- Saint John Vianney himself called Philomena the New Light of the Church Militant, and had a strong and well-known devotion to her
With known devotion to her include:
• Saint John Marie Vianney
• Saint Anthony Mary Claret
• Saint Hannibal Mary Di Francia
• Saint Pio of Pietrelcina
• Saint Joseph Damien de Veuster
• Saint Benilde
• Saint Magdalene of Canossa
• Saint Mary Euphrasia Pelletier
• Saint Francis Xavier Cabrini
• Saint John Nepomucene Neumann
• Saint Madeline Sophie Barat
• Saint Peter Chanel
• Saint Peter Julian Eymard
Blesseds:
• Blessed Anna Maria Taigi
• Blessed Bartolo Longo
• Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos
• Blessed Francoise Melanie Calvat
• Blessed Pauline Marie Jaricot
Venerables:
• Venerable Maria Cristina Di Savoia
• Venerable Mary Madeliene D'Houet
• Venerable Andres Filomeno Garcia Acosta
• Venerable Jean Leon Le Prevost
• Venerable Leo Dupont
• Venerable Jean Claude Colin
Other known devotees:
• King Ferdinand II, od Two Sicilies
• Queen Maria Teresa of Austria
• Queen Amelie of France
• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, American Poet writer
Saint Philomena, Pray for Us!
