Tatiana of Rome

Saint Tatiana of Rome, martyr, was a Christian virgin and deaconess of the Church of Rome, put to death for her faith in Christ in the third century, in the time of Emperor Alexander Severus. She is commemorated on 12 January and is regarded as the patroness of students. Her Life was written in Russian by Saint Demetrius of Rostov.

Life

According to her Life, Tatiana was born in Rome into a rich and distinguished family; her father had been consul three times and was a Christian in secret, and she was brought up in the faith and in knowledge of Scripture. Having come of age, she decided to remain a virgin, as a bride of Christ. For her pure life and for the zeal with which she served, she was made deaconess. She cared for the sick, fed the hungry, visited those in prison, guided women in the way of life in Christ and helped at the baptism of women.

In the time of Emperor Alexander Severus (222 to 235) she was seized and brought to the temple of Apollo, where she was forced to sacrifice to the idol. According to the Life, Tatiana prayed to Jesus Christ, and an earthquake brought down the statue of Apollo and part of the temple. Then she was tortured: she was beaten, scraped with iron claws, pieces of her body were torn away or cut off, but the marks of the torments vanished. It is told that while she prayed, her tormentors saw four angels around her and heard a voice from heaven; many of them believed in Christ and were in their turn condemned. She was then thrown before a hungry lion, but the beast fawned at her feet and did her no harm. The judges, thinking that she had enchantments hidden in her hair, cut it off and shut her up for two days in the temple of Zeus. On the third day the priests found the statue shattered and Tatiana alive. They then condemned her to death and she was beheaded with the sword together with her father. She is said to have died on 12 January, around the years 225 to 230.

Veneration

Tatiana is venerated by the Orthodox and Catholic Churches, but her veneration spread chiefly among the eastern Christians. She is commemorated on 12 January, which for the Churches keeping the old calendar falls on 25 January. In Russia and Belarus she is patroness of students: after Empress Elizabeth Petrovna signed the decree founding Moscow University, 25 January was celebrated as the day of the university and later of all students.

In Romania, the saint's skull was brought in 1955 from Bistrița Monastery to the Cathedral of Saint Demetrius in Craiova, where it rests with the relics of Saints Sergius and Bacchus and of Patriarch Nephon II of Constantinople.