ST ROMANA, VIRGIN - 23 FEBRUARY

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN FEBRUARY

 Saints celebrated on the 23rd of February

Prayer to the Angels and the Saints

Heavenly Father, in praising Your Angels and Saints we praise Your glory, for by honouring them we honour You, their Creator. Their splendour shows us Your greatness, which infinitely surpasses that of all creation.

In Your loving providence, You saw fit to send Your Angels to watch over us. Grant that we may always be under their protection and one day enjoy their company in heaven.

Heavenly Father, You are glorified in Your Saints, for their glory is the crowning of Your gifts. You provide an example for us by their lives on earth, You give us their friendship by our communion with them, You grant us strength and protection through their prayer for the Church, and You spur us on to victory over evil and the prize of eternal glory by this great company of witnesses.

Grant that we who aspire to take part in their joy may be filled with the Spirit that blessed their lives, so that, after sharing their faith on earth, we may also experience their peace in heaven. Amen.

ST ROMANA, VIRGIN 

Saint Romana was a virgin from Rome; she is said to have been the daughter of the city prefect (Calpurnius) and younger sister of the holy Virgin and Martyr Firmina.

HER BAPTISM

Without the knowledge of her pagan parents, she was taught the Christian religion and baptised. In order to remain a virgin, she took refuge with the holy bishop St Sylvester, who had baptised her, and who was then on Mount Soracte (now called Monte San Silvestro after him). 

HER LIFE AS A HERMITESS

Later she lived not far from Todi (Tuder Tuterdum) in Umbria in a cave on the Tiber, where she died around A.D.  324, while she was praying fervently. 

HER RELICS

Her first translation to the Basilica of St Fortunatus happened in A.D. 1301. In 1096, on May 5, her body was interred in a special chapel of the same church. Some of her relics are venerated in the St Francis Church in Bologna.

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, 1858)

HER ENTRY IN THE ROMAN MARTYROLOGY

"At Todi, Saint Romana, virgin, who was baptised by Pope St Sylvester. She led a heavenly life in caves and dens, and wrought glorious miracles."

PRAYER:

O God, who gladden us each year by the feast of blessed Romana, graciously grant that, as we rejoice in her merits, we may be inspired by her example. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.