ST REPARATA, VIRGIN AND MARTYR - 8 OCTOBER

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN OCTOBER 

Saints celebrated on the 8th of October

WELCOME!

SAINT REPARATA, VIRGIN AND MARTYR 

Saint Reparata 

Rabanus, who completed his martyrology in the first half of the 9th century, writes of this Saint: 

“On the 8th of October, the virgin Reparata of Caesarea, a city in Palestine, was martyred under the governor Decius. Since the virgin did not want to sacrifice to idols, she was [tortured] and, because this did not induce her to apostatise, she was savagely burned and, to the horror of the Christians, led around the city completely naked and finally beheaded, with a white dove flying out of her neck . The Christians gathered up her body secretly, anointed it and buried it."

The most fabulous journey of her dead body across the Mediterranean Sea to Campania on an old barque without sailors and sails the Bollandists* relegate into the realm of fables. How it got to Teano (Teanum), a town in Apulia (of which now only some traces remain at the village of Ponte Rotto), cannot be established. However, it is certain that there stood a church in honour of Saint Reparata, while relics of her were also venerated in the Church of St John in Lucca. The Teanoans claimed that they had received the holy treasure in the 9th century from Formio, when that city was destroyed by the Saracens.

The information of by what means, through whom, when, and on what occasion Saint Reparata's relics came from Palestine to Italy is shrouded in mystery. In the mid-16th century Bishop Sebastian Miturninus of Croton wrote in poem about Saint Reparata, but on closer examination it seems that he adapted the story of the life of the holy virgin and martyr Saint Albina to our Reparata. 

From Ughellus* we learn that the Bishop Speciosus in A.D. 724 determined legacies in his will regarding the Church of St John and St Reparata, and that, in the place where this edifice stood, a new church was built in 1294 to replace the old one. 

The ecclesiastical veneration of Saint Reparata in Florence has taken place since ancient times. The cathedral, which is now called St Maria Florida, was previously dedicated to her. She is the city's patron saint. The above-mentioned Reparata Church existed in Florence as early as the 4th century, because it is documented that the holy Bishop Andrew transferred the body of his predecessor, Saint Zenobius, into it (A.D. 400).

It seems, therefore, that the saint lived and suffered in Florence itself, and that, in the absence of written reports, an oriental legend was only added later. She is pictured with a crown, book and flag; often with a book and palm. Some religious icons depict her torture and beheading, with a white dove flying up to heaven from the mouth of the dying woman. 

There are also churches dedicated to Saint Reparata in Nice (Nicaea) and Atri (Hadria vel Adria) in the Neapolitan region. The relics which the Jesuit General Claudius Aquaviva received by Pope Pius V in 1607 to be sent to the inhabitants of Atri, at the time believed to be those of the holy Virgin and Martyr Reparata, later turned out to be the mortal remains of a Roman martyr lady. (IV. 24-41.)

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, Volume 5, Augsburg, 1882, pp. 74-5)

*A hagiography source used by the authors 

Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints - Sources and Abbreviations

PRAYER:

Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that we who know how courageously your holy Virgin and Martyr Reparata confessed the faith, may experience her goodness as she intercedes for us with you. 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.

Sources of these articles (in the original German): books.google.co.uk, de-academic.com, zeno.org, openlibrary.org