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St. Philomena is one of the earliest virgin martyrs of our

Catholic Faith yet so little is known about this great Saint.

The documented history about her began after her tomb was discovered in

1802 in the catacombs of Priscilla in Rome.

We do not know much of St. Philomena’s earthly life, except from her own

revelations (that received an Imprimatur of the Holy Office on December 21, 1833) to three separate visionaries who lived far apart and did not know each other.

From the revelations from this great Saint, we learn that she was martyred for her Catholic faith and her desire to protect her virginity that was consecrated to Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Our heroic girl-saint, strengthened by God the Holy Ghost, staunchly resisted the marriage proposals of Emperor Diocletian and consequently was horrendously punished by the

infuriated emperor. She was scourged like Our Lord Jesus Christ, had an iron anchor tied to her neck to be thrown into the river Tiber and was shot mercilessly by arrows.

Our Lord Jesus Christ miraculously rescued St. Philomena from all these aforementioned fatal threats.

Finally, St. Philomena attained the eternal crown of martyrdom when the emperor gave orders to behead her.

For centuries after her martyrdrom, little was known about this child-saint.

Yet, Almighty God in his goodness permitted the discovery of St. Philomena’s tomb amidst the catacombs of Rome in the early nineteenth century to

showcase the extraordinary power this Virgin Martyr has due to her unwavering love of God while on earth.

Indeed, many saintly Popes over the years have characterised her as the

“Great Wonder-Worker”, along with her other titles like “Virgin”, “Martyr” and “Saint”.

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