Flavia Domitilla

Flavia Domitilla was a Roman noblewoman of the first century, of the imperial Flavian family: granddaughter of the emperor Vespasian and niece of the emperors Titus and Domitian, as the historical sources say. The Church venerates her as a saint and martyr, but the sources do not make clear whether one person or two is meant.

The ancient historians present Flavia Domitilla as the daughter of Domitilla the Younger, married to her cousin, the consul Titus Flavius Clemens, with whom she had seven children. Domitian had designated their two younger sons as his successors. In 95, shortly after the end of his consulship, Domitian put Clemens to death. According to Cassius Dio, the charge against him and his wife was "atheism", that is, rejection of the gods of the city, for which many others who had drifted into Jewish ways were also condemned; Domitilla was banished to the island of Pandateria. Eusebius of Caesarea, relying on a writer called Brutius, names Flavia Domitilla not as the wife but as the niece of the consul Clemens, banished to the island of Pontia because she confessed Christ. Historians disagree whether the same person is meant.

Later, the Acts of Saints Nereus and Achilleus (fifth and sixth centuries), a text more legendary than historical, make her a virgin and martyr, a disciple of Pope Clement, who was burned to death at Terracina with Theodora and Euphrosyna. The Catacomb of Domitilla at Rome takes its name from the burial ground she made available, and there lie the tombs of Saints Nereus and Achilleus.

The Greek Orthodox Church commemorates her on 12 May, with Nereus and Achilleus, as the wife of the consul Clemens, a martyr for refusing to sacrifice to idols. The Catholic Church commemorates her on 7 May, and in the Roman Martyrology of 2001 she is the martyr, niece of the consul Clemens, banished to Pontia.