Priscilla of Rome

Holy Martyr Priscilla of Rome was a wealthy Christian woman of Rome who, together with St Lucina, kept on her estate near the city the tombs of martyrs of the time of Diocletian. She is commemorated in the group of the Holy Hieromartyr Marcellus, pope of Rome.

St Marcellus, pope of Rome, suffered together with the deacons Sisinnius and Cyriacus, the soldiers Smaragdus, Largus, Apronian, Saturninus, Papias and Maurus, with Crescentian and with the martyrs Priscilla, Lucina and Artemia, in the persecutions of Diocletian and Maximian (284-305) and of their successors Galerius (305-311) and Maxentius (305-312). Maximian, who ruled the western part of the empire, stripped the Christians of military rank and sent them to forced labour. A wealthy Christian, Thraso, sent the prisoners food and clothing through Sisinnius, Cyriacus, Smaragdus and Largus. Pope Marcellus thanked him for the deed, and ordained Sisinnius and Cyriacus deacons. Soon, while helping the prisoners, the two were seized and sent to labour. They worked not only their own share but in place of the aged prisoner Saturninus, for which Maximian gave Sisinnius to torment under the governor Laodicius. The jailer Apronian believed in Christ when he saw the face of Sisinnius shining with heavenly light; he was baptized, received Chrismation from Pope Marcellus and was beheaded for his confession. Sisinnius and Saturninus were also condemned: in the pagan temple the prayer of Saturninus melted the tripods of incense before the idols, and the soldiers Papias and Maurus, seeing the wonder, confessed Christ. Sisinnius and Saturninus were put to the sword, while Papias and Maurus, baptized in secret by Pope Marcellus, died in their turn of torments. The daughter of the emperor Diocletian, Artemia, was possessed by a demon; Cyriacus healed and baptized her, and in return the emperor freed Cyriacus, Smaragdus and Largus.

Later Cyriacus was seized by order of the emperor Galerius, angry at Diocletian over the baptism of Artemia, and dragged naked and in chains behind his chariot. Pope Marcellus publicly rebuked the emperor's cruelty toward innocent Christians and was beaten with rods and set to guard cattle. Cyriacus, Smaragdus, Largus and Crescentian died of their torments, and Artemia and twenty-⁠one other prisoners were put to death. Pope Marcellus was secretly freed by the Roman clergy. Digging up the bodies of the martyrs Cyriacus, Smaragdus and Largus, he buried them on the estate of two Christian women, Priscilla and Lucina, near Rome, and the house of Lucina became a church.

After Maxentius became emperor, he ordered the church destroyed and turned into a stable, and condemned the pope to tend the cattle for life. Worn out by hunger, cold and stench, St Marcellus fell ill and died in 310. The holy women Priscilla and Lucina were driven out of Rome in shame, and their estates plundered.

St Priscilla is commemorated on 20 June, in the new style.