Feast Day: January 23
Era: Early 4th century
Location: Rome, Italy
✠ Summary of Her Life:
St. Emerentiana was a Roman virgin and martyr, venerated especially in the early Church for her courageous witness to the Faith. According to tradition, she was the foster-sister or catechumen companion of St. Agnes, the celebrated virgin-martyr whose feast is observed on January 21. Emerentiana, still a catechumen and thus not yet baptized, professed the Faith with fervor and paid for it with her life shortly after Agnes’s martyrdom.
✠ The Hagiographical Account:
After the martyrdom of St. Agnes, Emerentiana went to pray at her tomb. There, she boldly rebuked the pagan onlookers who mocked the Christian faith and Agnes’s sacrifice. In a rage, the mob stoned her to death on the spot. Because she died for the Faith, the Church venerates her as a martyr, even though she was not yet baptized—an example of what the Church calls baptism of blood.
A brief account is found in ancient martyrologies, including the Martyrologium Hieronymianum and the Roman Martyrology, which commemorates her with the words:
“At Rome, the holy virgin and martyr Emerentiana, foster-sister of the blessed Agnes. While she was still a catechumen, she was stoned by the heathens as she prayed at the tomb of Agnes, her sister by adoption and charity.”
✠ Spiritual Significance:
St. Emerentiana is a beautiful example of:
- Christian courage: She showed no fear in professing Christ, even while unbaptized.
- Love of the martyrs: She venerated St. Agnes with deep devotion, visiting her tomb despite danger.
- Charity and kinship in Christ: Her spiritual bond with Agnes was stronger than blood, reminding us of the unity found in the Mystical Body of Christ.
Her life is a testament to how the early Christians saw martyrdom not as a misfortune but as the crown of witness—a testimonium that united one with Christ in glory.
✠ Patronage & Legacy:
While St. Emerentiana is not widely invoked today, in early Christian Rome she enjoyed local veneration, particularly at the Basilica of St. Agnes Outside the Walls, where tradition holds that she was buried near her spiritual sister. Some images depict her holding stones in her lap or hands, symbolic of her death by stoning, and a palm branch, the ancient sign of martyrdom.
✠ Prayer to St. Emerentiana:
O glorious Virgin and Martyr, St. Emerentiana,
you were washed not in the waters of Baptism,
but in the blood of your own martyrdom.
Through your bold confession and loving devotion
to St. Agnes and to Christ,
obtain for us the grace to live the Faith courageously,
to love chastity and purity,
and to fear not the reproach of the world.
Intercede for us that we may remain faithful unto death,
and join you in the glory of the saints.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.