Tatiana of Rome

Saint Tatiana of Rome
Saint Tatiana of Rome
	Russian Orthodox icon of Saint Tatiana, 19th century
Virgin, Martyr
Born	Rome
Died	226-235; Rome
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church; Eastern Orthodox Church
Feast	January 12
Attributes	Shown holding a martyr's cross, or a plate with two eyes on it
Patronage	students

Saint Tatiana was a Christian martyr in 3rd-century Rome during the reign of Emperor Alexander Severus. She was a deaconess of the early church.

According to legend, she was the daughter of a Roman civil servant who was secretly Christian, and raised his daughter in the faith, and she became a deaconess in the church. This was dangerous, and one day the jurist Ulpian captured Tatiana and attempted to force her to make a sacrifice to Apollo. She prayed, and miraculously, an earthquake destroyed the Apollo statue and part of the temple.

Tatiana was then blinded, and beaten for two days, before being brought to a circus and thrown into the pit with a hungry lion. But the lion did not touch her and lay at her feet. This resulted in a death sentence being pronounced, and after being tortured, Tatiana was beheaded with a sword on January 12, around AD 225 or 230.

Veneration

Painting showing the beheading of Tatiana of Rome from the Menologion of Basil II (c. 1000 AD)

Tatiana is venerated as a saint, and her feast day is on January 12 (for those churches which follow the traditional Julian Calendar, January 12 currently falls on January 25 of the modern Gregorian Calendar). The miracles performed by Saint Tatiana are said to have converted many people to the fledgling religion. Saint Tatiana is patron saint of students. In Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine, Tatiana Day is semi-formally celebrated as "Students' Day."

The similarity of her life with those of Martina and Prisca has led some to question whether they may even all be the same person, or if perhaps similar hagiographies were assigned to them posthumously. There is no early evidence of veneration of either Martina or Tatiana in Rome, and Prisca (or Priscilla) is hard to identify.

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References

Attwater, Donald and Catherine Rachel John. The Penguin Dictionary of Saints. 3rd edition. New York: Penguin Books, 1993. ISBN 0-14-051312-4.

External links

Martyrdom of Saint Tatiana (includes icon)
Martyr Tatiana of Rome, and those who suffered with Her Orthodox icon and synaxarion
The Holy Female Martyr Tatiana Prologue from Ochrid

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