Patricia of Naples

Saint Patricia of Naples (also called Patricia of Constantinople) was, according to tradition, a virgin of noble birth, who died around the year 665. The Greek source says that she is venerated as a saint by the Italian Roman Catholics; our sources show no Orthodox glorification, so she is a saint of the Western Church. She is said to have had ties with the imperial family and to have been a descendant of Constantine the Great. The traditional particulars about her are unreliable and at times contradictory; the years 664 and 685 on the record do not match 665.

Wishing to escape a marriage arranged by the emperor Constans II and to become a nun, she went to Rome, where she received the veil from Pope Liberius. The pope's name does not fit the time of Constans, which shows the caution with which the story must be regarded. After her father's death she returned to Constantinople and, renouncing any claim to the imperial crown, distributed her wealth to the poor. She then planned to go on pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

A terrible storm, however, wrecked her ship on the shores of Naples. Finding refuge on the tiny island of Megarides (today Castel dell'Ovo), where there was a small hermitage, Patricia died shortly after of disease.

Her relics were at the monastery of Santa Patrizia and, in the disturbances of 1864, were moved to the monastery of San Gregorio Armeno. Covered in wax, they are kept in an urn of gold, gems and silver, in the monastery chapel. The monastery also preserves her blood, which, like that of Januarius, the other, better known, patron of Naples, is said to liquefy periodically. The legend tells that after Patricia died a zealous man pulled out one of her teeth and the body bled; the faithful collected the blood, which liquefied. The Greek source adds that the blood melts on her feast day, 25 August, and every Tuesday morning.