Bibiana

Saint Bibiana the Martyr (also called Viviana) was a Christian virgin of Rome who, according to tradition, died for Christ in the time of the Emperor Julian the Apostate, in 362 or 363, at the age of only fifteen. The Church remembers her on 2 December. Certain history about her is very scarce, but her veneration at Rome is ancient.

The earliest testimony The first mention of her is in the Liber Pontificalis, in the life of Pope Simplicius (468 to 483), which says that he consecrated a basilica of the holy martyr Bibiana, containing her body, near the Licinian palace. The Basilica of Santa Bibiana in Rome is dedicated to her. The only details of her life are preserved in the Passion of Bibiana, written by a seventh-⁠century author, and the martyrologies of the ninth century drew their story from it. It is thought that the legend seeks to explain both the origin of this church and the presence in it of the relics of her and her relatives.

Her passion According to tradition, Bibiana was the daughter of Flavian, a Roman knight and, according to some sources, prefect of Rome, and of Dafrosa, who came from a family of consuls; she had a sister named Demetria. When Julian came to the throne and renewed the persecution of Christians, Flavian was forced to give up the prefecture to Apronianus, a fierce enemy of Christians, set over Rome by the emperor. The father was sent into exile at Aquae Taurinae, thought to be Montefiascone, where he died of his torments on 22 December 362.

Bibiana, Demetria and their mother shut themselves in their house, in fasting and prayer, awaiting martyrdom. They were seized and condemned to die of hunger, but the prefect changed his mind. Dafrosa was beheaded on 6 January 363, and Demetria, thrown once more into prison and harshly punished, confessed her faith and fell dead at the tyrant's feet. Bibiana, left alone, was given by Apronianus into the hands of a wicked woman named Rufina, who tried in vain to seduce her and beat her, but the virgin remained faithful to Christ.

Enraged at her constancy, Apronianus ordered her tied to a pillar and scourged with whips weighted with lead. The saint endured the torments with joy and died under the executioner's blows, in some accounts four days after they began. Her body was left in the open air to be torn by dogs and wild beasts, but none touched it. After two days the priest John buried her beside her mother and sister in their own house, which was later made into a church.

Veneration Saint Bibiana should not be confused with Vibiana, a saint of the third century, patroness of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Her church in Rome, Santa Bibiana, remains the chief place of her veneration, and her memory is kept on 2 December.