Patron Of:
Giving Birth, Imprisoned, Infertility, Mother In Need Of Help Raising Children, Students Undergoing Exams, Married Couples, Orphans, Children, Bodily Ills, Desperate Causes, Forgotten Causes, Lost Causes
Also known as
Filomena; Filumena; Philumena; Philomene; Thaumaturga of the Nineteenth Century; Wonder Worker of the Nineteenth Century
Memorial
11 August; cultus suppressed in 1961 by Pope John XXIII due to the lack of historical information Profile
Little is known of her life, and the information was have was
received by private revelation from her. Martyred at about age 14 in
the early days of the Church.
In 1802 the remains of a young woman were found in the catacomb of
Saint Priscilla on the Via Salaria. It was covered by stones, the
symbols on which indicated that the body was a martyr named Saint
Philomena. The bones were exhumed, cataloged, and effectively forgotten
since there was so little known about the person.
In 1805 Canon Francis de Lucia of Mugnano, Italy was in the
Treasury of the Rare Collection of Christian Antiquity (Treasury of
Relics) in the Vatican. When he reached the relics of Saint Philomena
he was suddenly struck with a spiritual joy, and requested that he be
allowed to enshrine them in a chapel in Mugnano. After some
disagreements, settled by the cure of Canon Francis following prayers
to Philomena, he was allowed to translate the relics to Mugnano.
Miracles began to be reported at the shrine including cures of cancer,
healing of wounds, and the Miracle of Mugnano in which Venerable
Pauline Jaricot was cured a severe heart ailment overnight. Philomena
became the only person recognized as a Saint solely on the basis of
miraculous intercession as nothing historical was known of her except
her name and the evidence of her martyrdom.
Pope Leo XII granted permission for the erection of altars and
churches in her honor. Pope Gregory XVI authorized her public
veneration, and named her patroness of the Living Rosary. The cure of
Pope Pius IX, while archbishop of Imola, was attributed to Philomena;
in 1849, he named her patroness of the Children of Mary. Pope Leo XIII
approved the Confraternity of Saint Philomena, and raised it to an
Archconfraternity. Pope Pius X raised the Archconfraternity to a
Universal Archconfraternity, and named Saint John Vianney its patron.
Saint John Vianney himself called Philomena the New Light of the Church
Militant, and had a strong and well-known devotion to her. Others with
known devotion to her include Saint Anthony Mary Claret, Saint
Euphrasia Pelletier, Saint Francis Xavier Cabrini, Saint John
Nepomucene Neumann, Saint Madeline Sophie Barat, Saint Peter Chanel,
Saint Peter Julian Eymard, Blessed Anna Maria Taigi, and Venerable
Pauline Jaricot. Died
relics discovered on 24 May 1802; relics translated to Mugnano, Italy on 10 August 1805
Canonized
by Pope Gregory XVI
Patronage
babies; barrenness; bodily ills; children; children of Mary;
desperate causes; forgotten causes; impossible causes; infants;
infertility; lost causes; Living Rosary; newborns; orphans; poor
people; priests; sick people; sickness; sterility; toddlers; young
people; youth
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