Daria

Holy Martyr Daria of Venafro, a martyr under the emperor Maximian, is said to have died at Venafro in Italy in the year 303; she is venerated by the Catholic Church together with her husband Nicander.

The Roman Martyrology in fact records the martyrdom of Nicander and Marcian, on 17 June, but not that of Daria, whose figure rests only on popular legend. Tradition says that she was the wife of Nicander, a martyr in the same year with Marcian. After urging her husband to go to martyrdom rather than abandon Christ, she herself endured the persecution. She died beheaded, after cruel torments, at Venafro, a few days after the martyrdom of Nicander and Marcian. She is regarded, together with Saints Marcian and Nicander, as a patron of the city of Venafro. She is a saint of the undivided Church, honoured locally, without synodal canonization.