Sabina of Rome

The Holy Martyr Sabina of Rome was a Roman widow of noble family who received the crown of martyrdom in the time of the emperor Hadrian, around 119 or 126. She is honoured in the Orthodox and the Catholic Church and commemorated on 29 August.

According to the story of her Life, she was the daughter of Herod the Metalworker and the widow of the senator Valentinus, from Avezzano, in Abruzzo. It is said that she came to the Christian faith through the example of her Syrian slave Serapia. Then she withdrew with a few devout friends to one of her country estates, where she spent her time in good works. Serapia was denounced and beheaded in the city of Vindena in Umbria. Sabina took her relics and placed them in the family mausoleum, where she expected to be buried herself. Later she too was denounced as a Christian by the prefect Elpidius, and was martyred at Rome.

In 430 her relics were moved to the Aventine hill, to the basilica of Santa Sabina, built on the site of her house, once near a temple of Juno. The house may also have been an early Christian titular church. The church was at first dedicated to both, Sabina and Serapia. The acts of martyrdom have no historical value; it is thought that Sabina was rather the benefactress who gave the Christian community a property on the Aventine, and, as often happened, the foundation bore her name; gradually, at Rome, many donors of churches were regarded as patron saints of their communities.