Olivia of Palermo

The Holy Martyr Olivia of Palermo was a young virgin of Sicily, venerated as protector of Palermo since the Middle Ages, as well as in Tunis. Her life has a legendary character; some place her in the fifth century (born in 448, killed at Tunis on 10 June 463), others in the ninth century, in the Arab emirate of Sicily. Her feast is on 10 June.

She seems to have been made a saint by popular tradition alone, as a pious local saint, since her name does not appear in the ordinary Greek or Latin martyrologies. The oldest sources for her life are a Gallo-⁠Sicilian breviary of the twelfth century, kept at Palermo, a text in vulgar Sicilian of the fourteenth century, found at Termini Imerese, and a life in a lectionary of the fifteenth century; the Bollandists published in 1885 her Acts, taken from the lectionary of the church of Palermo. The Sicilian poet Petru Fudduni dedicated to her a poem of 114 octaves. From 1310 a church dedicated to her is known at Palermo, on the supposed site of her tomb.

According to the hagiographic legend, Olivia was the beautiful daughter of a noble Sicilian family, born in the Loggia district of Palermo. From youth she gave herself to the Lord, declining honours and riches and giving alms to the poor. In one version, in 454 Genseric, king of the Vandals, conquered Sicily, occupied Palermo and began to kill many Christians. At thirteen Olivia comforted the prisoners and urged the Christians to remain steadfast. The Vandals marvelled at the strength of her spirit and, out of respect for her noble house, sent her to Tunis, where the governor tried to break her constancy. At Tunis she worked miracles and began to turn pagans. The governor ordered her taken to a solitary place, with wild beasts, hoping that they would devour her or that she would die of hunger; but the animals lived in peace around her. Once hunters from Tunis found her and, amazed by her beauty, tried to dishonour her, but Olivia turned them with the word of the Lord and they were baptised. After the wonderful healing of many sick, Olivia brought many pagans to the Christian faith. Hearing of it, the governor ordered her arrested and imprisoned in the city. She was scourged, stripped and put into a cauldron of boiling oil, but these torments did her no harm and did not make her renounce her faith. At last she was beheaded on 10 June 463, and her soul flew to heaven in the form of a dove.