Santa Filomena ( light daughter or beloved in Greek) is a virgin and martyr of the Catholic Church In 1802, while carrying out excavations at the famous catacombs of St. Priscilla in Rome, he found a sealed vault with three terracotta tiles bearing the inscription: Lumena - Pax Te - Cum Fi. Trying to make sense of this phrase, be re-arranged some slightly syllables and cum you got PAXTE Filumena, which in Latin means "Peace be with you, Philomena."
In the tomb found the body of a 12 or 13 years, near his head was broken vase containing what was believed to be dried blood. Later his body was placed in an ebony box lined with silk and gave the Church, being Agostode 10, 1805 transferred the relics to the parish of D. Francesco Mugnano, where his shrine.
Neapolitan A nun called Sister Louise asked Santa Filo ore, through prayer, to reveal part of his life. Then, he allegedly received in a dream the requested information, which is summarized in the following story.
Filomena was the princess of a city-state located on the Greek island of Corfu, the daughter of Christian kings to be baptized as Publius, his personal physician, told them that God could help them to have the child they so desired but could not conceive.
At 13 years old, Filomena traveled to Rome with his parents when the Emperor Diocletian summoned to formally declare war, however, impressed with the beauty and elegance of the princess, he offered peace if Filomena I was given as his wife. The parents agreed, but the daughter refused the deal, not only was upset at being offered as a trophy to the Romans but even had he been consulted, but she had taken a vow of virginity years ago and thought fulfill at any cost.
After many futile efforts to convince Philomena to marry him and become his empress, Diocletian executed his parents for standing up against the Roman Empire and imprisoned for over a month. After 37 days in jail, Filomena was subjected to various tortures (he was flogged, then thrown into the Tiber River with an anchor strapped to his body but divine intervention saved her again and again to die. Finally, as part of under Roman people began to take his side and protested against his detention, Filomena was accused of witchcraft and beheaded.
In his youth, devoted to St. Philomena Pauline Jaricot, which gave him credit for having miraculously healed of heart disease, three associations founded Catholic: Living Rosary Association, the Society for the Propagation of the Faith and the Association of the Holy Childhood. The three are dedicated to the memory of Santa.
In Catholic iconography Filomena portrays a girl with long hair, wavy and brown, wearing a long robe usually white, blue or orange, with palm leaves (symbol martyrdom), arrows or anchor in hand, and a royal crown or flowers in their hair.
NOVENA TO SAINT PHILOMENA
O great St. Philomena, Virgin and Martyr, wonder-worker of our age, I give the most fervent thanks to God for the miraculous gifts granted to You, and I pray impart a portion the graces and blessings that you have been the channel for many souls. For the heroic fortitude with which we confront the fury of tyrants and disgust or powerful before deviate from your alliance with the King of Heaven, obtain for me purity of body and soul, purity of heart and desire, purity thought and affection.
for your patience under multiplied sufferings, obtain for me a submissive acceptance of all the afflictions that can please God as you send and miraculously escaped unhurt from the waters of the Tiber, where you were dropped on the orders of your tracker, so I can also pass through the waters of tribulation without detriment to my soul. In addition to these favors, obtain for me, O faithful spouse of Jesus, particular need to earnestly I recommend at this time.
Oh pure Virgin and holy Martyr, deign to address a look of pity from Heaven on your devoted servant, consoladme in distress, assist me in danger, especially come to my rescue when my death. Save on the interests of the Church of God, pray for its exaltation and prosperity, the extension of the Faith, the Sovereign Pontiff, by the clergy, for the perseverance of the just, the conversion of sinners, and the vote of souls Purgatory, especially my loved ones. Oh great Saint, whose triumph we celebrate on earth, intercede for me, that one day I can look at the crown of glory given to you in heaven and bless the One who liberally rewarded for all eternity the sufferings endured for His love during this short life. Amen.
Saint Philomena is venerated as a Virgin Martyr Saint of the Roman Catholic Church, said to have been a young Greek princess martyred in the 4th century. Her veneration began in the early 19th century after the archaeological discovery in the Catacombs of Priscilla of the bones of a young girl, which were interpreted as those of a martyr. Nothing else was known about her, but an inscription found at the tomb was taken to indicate that her name was (in the Latin of the inscription) Filumena; corresponding to the English name Philomena.
The remains were removed to Mungnano Cardinale in 1805 and became the focus of widespread devotion, with several miracles credited to the saint's intercession , including the healing of Venerable Pauline Jaricot in 1835, which received wide publicity. Saint Jean Vianney attributed to her intercession the extraordinary cures that others attributed to himself. Accounts of her life and martyrdom circulated on the basis of visions of a Neapolitan nun. On 21 December 1833, the Holly Office declared that there was nothing contrary to the Catholic faith in the revelations that Sister Maria Luisa di Gesù (1799-1875), a Dominican tertiary from Naples claimed to have received from the Saint herself.
According to Sister Maria Luisa di Gesù, Saint Philomena told her she was the daughter of a king in Greece who, with his wife, had converted to Christianity. At the age of about 13 she took a vow of consecrated virginity. When the Emperor Diocletian threatened to make war on her father, he went with his family to Rome to ask for peace. The Emperor fell in love with the young Philomena and, when she refused to be his wife, he subjected her to a series of torments: scourging, from whose effects two angels cured her; drowning with an anchor attached to her, but two angels cut the rope and raised her to the river bank; being shot with arrows, but on the first occasion her wounds were healed, on the second the arrows turned aside, and on the third, they returned and killed six of the archers, and several of the others became Christians. Finally the Emperor had her decapitated, which occurred on a Friday at three in the afternoon, as with the death of Jesus. The two anchors, three arrows, the palm and the ivy leaf on the tiles found in the tomb were interpreted as symbols of her martyrdom.
In these visions she also revealed that her birthday was 10 January, that her martyrdom occurred on 10 August (the date also of the arrival of her relics in Mugnano del Cardinale),and that her name "Filumena" meant "daughter of light" (it is usually taken to be derived from a Greek word meaning "beloved") On 24 May 1802 in the Catacombs of Priscilla on the Via Salaria Nova an inscribed loculus (space hollowed out of the rock) was found, and on the following day it was carefully examined and opened. The loculus was closed with three terra cotta tiles, on which was the following inscription: lumena paxte cumfi . It was and is generally accepted that the tiles were in a wrong order and that the inscription originally read, with the leftmost tile placed on the right: pax tecum Filumena (i.e."Peace with you, Philomena"). Within the loculus was found the skeleton of a female between thirteen and fifteen years old. Embedded in the cement was a small glass phial with vestiges of what was taken to be blood. Accordingly, in accordance with the assumptions of the time, the remains were taken to be those of a virgin martyr named Philomena.
In 1805, Canon Francesco De Lucia requested relics for a new altar, and on 8 June obtained the remains discovered in May 1802 (reduced to dust and fragments) for his church in Mungnano Cardinal, Where They Arrived on 11 August, after Being taken from Rome to Naples on July 1
In 1827, Pope Leo XIII Mugnano Gave to the church in the Cardinal's three inscribed terra cotta slabs That Had Been Taken from the tomb. Report In His history of the translation of the sacred body of St. Filomena from Rome to Cardinal Mugnano De Lucia recounts wonders That Accompanied the arrival of the relics in His church, Among Them statues sweated That Some liquid Continuously for three days.
The spread of devotion to her in France as well as in Italy helped When Was Saint John Vianney built a shrine in her honor and Often Referred to her, attributing to her the miracles That Attributed others to Himself. Another help was the cure of the near-dying Venerable Pauline Jaricot, founder of the Society for the propagatin of the Faith, at Philomena's shrine on 10 August 1835.
Another miracle accepted as proved in the same year was the multiplication of the bone dust of the saint, which provided for hundreds of reliquaries without the original amount experiencing any decrease in quantity. NOVENA PRAYER TO SAINT PHILOMENA We beseech Thee, O Lord, to grant us the pardon of our sins by the intercession of Saint , virgin and martyr, who was always pleasing in Thy sight by her eminent chastity and by the profession of every virtue. Amen.
Illustrious virgin and martyr, Saint Philomena, behold me prostrate before the throne whereupon it has pleased the Most Holy Trinity to place thee. Full of confidence in thy protection, I entreat thee to intercede for me with God, from the heights of Heaven deign to cast a glance upon thy humble client! Spouse of Christ, sustain me in suffering, fortify me in temptation, protect me in the dangers surrounding me, obtain for me the graces necessary to me, and in particular
(Here specify your petition).
Above all, assist me at the hour of my death. Saint Philomena, powerful with God, pray for us. Amen.
O God, Most Holy Trinity, we thank Thee for the graces Thou didst bestow upon the Blessed Virgin Mary, and upon Thy handmaid Philomena, through whose intercession we implore Thy Mercy. Amen.
