Mesia Elia

Saint Mesia Elia was a Roman noblewoman of the 3rd century. Disillusioned with the religion of her birth, she became a Christian and spent her wealth and time on the community. Her social position protected her from the authorities until the persecution of Diocletian.

At the end of July 305 she was tried and arrested, because she had received and hidden other wanted people in her house and then refused to offer sacrifice to the emperor. Her family tried to free her through influential acquaintances, even considering bribing the judges, but she refused any help for the sake of her faith. She was condemned and beheaded on 15 August. She was buried in the catacombs of Priscilla, where an ampoule of her blood and a gravestone with the inscription "Mesia Elia spiritus in pace" were found.

In 1804 her relics and gravestone were moved to the castle church of Alvito, of which she was declared patron, and later to the church of Santa Maria Assunta. At Alvito there are a painting and a statue of her, and there she is commemorated on the last Sunday of September. She is honored as a saint of the undivided Church, in the local tradition.