Felicitas of Rome

Holy Martyr Felicitas of Rome is honored as the mother of seven martyred sons who suffered in Rome in the second century, in the time of Antoninus Pius, in 164 or 165 according to some sources. With certainty, history preserves of her only her name and the fact that she was buried in the cemetery of Maximus on the Via Salaria, on 23 November. The story of the mother and her sons is known from legend, and the Orthodox Church commemorates them on 25 January.

What is known and what tradition says

The oldest historical source, the calendar of the martyrs of Rome from the time of Pope Liberius in the middle of the fourth century, mentions on 10 July seven martyrs buried in four different cemeteries, but does not say that they were brothers and does not mention Felicitas. The Hieronymian Martyrology speaks of her feast on 25 January. Later, legend joined them all: Felicitas was said to be their mother. This Felicitas is not the same as the North African martyr Felicitas who suffered with Perpetua.

According to tradition, Felicitas was a wealthy and pious widow of a Roman family, the mother of seven sons: Januarius, Felix, Philip, Silvanus, Alexander, Vitalis and Martialis. She devoted herself to works of mercy and brought many souls to the Christian faith by her example. Later, pagan priests accused her of spreading the Christian faith; giving away all her property, she came forward and preached Christ openly. This aroused the wrath of the pagans, and her sons were handed over to torture.

Martyrdom

Felicitas prayed to God that she not be killed before her sons, so that she might strengthen them in their torments and keep them from denying Christ. She accompanied them joyfully, one by one, until she had seen all seven put to death. It is not certain how each died, but it is said that Januarius, the eldest, was scourged to death; Felix and Philip were beaten with clubs; Silvanus was thrown headlong down a precipice; and the three youngest, Alexander, Vitalis and Martialis, were beheaded. After each execution she was offered the chance to deny her faith, and she refused. In the end she too received the crown of martyrdom.

Pope Gregory the Great delivered about her, at her tomb, a homily in which he says that he saw in a woman's breast a man's courage and called her more than a martyr. This homily, given on 25 January in the church raised over her tomb, shows that the day was kept in Rome from ancient times.

Relics and veneration

All the ancient Roman itineraries place her tomb in the church above the catacomb of Maximus on the Via Salaria. The crypt in which she was buried was later enlarged into an underground chapel and was rediscovered in 1885. In the early Middle Ages there was a chapel in her honor in an old Roman building near the ruins of the Baths of Titus. Parts of her relics are kept in the Capuchin church at Montefiascone and in the church of Santa Susanna in Rome. She is regarded as a patron of those seeking healing.

Her legend is very like that of Saint Symphorosa, and their stories may have been confused. Until 1969 the Roman calendar called the seven martyrs "the Seven Holy Brothers." The Orthodox Church commemorates them on 25 January, and the Catholic Church commemorates Felicitas on 23 November; the Serbian Orthodox Church keeps 25 January by the church calendar, which is 7 February by the Gregorian.