Tatiana of Rome

Infobox Saint
name= Saint Tatiana of Rome
birth_date=
death_date=226-235
feast_day= January 12
venerated_in= Roman Catholic Church
Eastern Orthodox Church


imagesize=
caption= Russian Orthodox icon of Saint Tatiana, 19th cent.
birth_place=Rome
death_place=Rome
titles= Virgin Martyr
beatified_date=
beatified_place=
beatified_by=
canonized_date=
canonized_place=
canonized_by=
attributes=Shown holding a martyr's cross, or a plate with two eyes on it
patronage=students
major_shrine=
suppressed_date=
issues=

Saint Tatiana was a Christian martyr in 3rd century Rome during the reign of Emperor Alexander Severus. She was a deaconess of the early church.

According to legend, she was the daughter of a Roman civil servant who was secretly Christian, and raised his daughter in the faith, and she became a deaconess in the church. This was dangerous, and one day the jurist Ulpian captured Tatiana and attempted to force her to make a sacrifice to Apollo. She prayed, and miraculously, an earthquake destroyed the idol and part of the temple.

Tatiana was then blinded, and beaten for two days, before being brought to a circus and thrown into the pit with a hungry lion. But the lion did not touch her and lay at her feet. This resulted in a death sentence being pronounced, and after being tortured, Tatiana was beheaded with a sword on January 12 (Julian calendar) (January 25 in the Gregorian calendar), around AD 225 or 230.

Veneration

Tatiana is venerated as a saint, and is her feast day is on January 12 (for those churches which follow the traditional Julian Calendar, January 12 currently falls on January 25 of the modern Gregorian Calendar). The miracles performed by Saint Tatiana are said to have converted many people to the fledgling religion. Saint Tatiana is patron saint of students. In Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine, Tatiana Day, also known as "Students Day", is a public holiday.

The similarity of her life with those of Martina and Prisca has led some to question whether they may even all be the same person, or if perhaps similar hagiographies were assigned to them postumously. There is no early evidence of veneration of either Martina or Tatiana in Rome, and Prisca (or Priscilla) is hard to identify.

References

*Attwater, Donald and Catherine Rachel John. "The Penguin Dictionary of Saints". 3rd edition. New York: Penguin Books, 1993. ISBN 0-140-51312-4.

External links

* [http://chattablogs.com/aionioszoe/archives/020064.html Martyrdom of Saint Tatiana (includes icon)]
* [http://www.ets.ru/images/ut000084.jpgRussian orthodox nyw time iconograpy of Holy Martyr Tatiana or St. Tatiana the Martyr icon]
* [http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0112.htm St. Tatiana at Saints O' The Day]
* [http://ocafs.oca.org/FeastSaintsViewer.asp?SID=4&ID=1&FSID=100155 Martyr Tatiana of Rome, and those who suffered with Her] Orthodox icon and synaxarion
* [http://www.westsrbdio.org/prolog/my.html?month=January&day=12&Go.x=11&Go.y=9 The Holy Female Martyr Tatiana] "Prologue from Ochrid"
* [http://www.tatianavit.orthodoxy.ru/eng/life.htm The Life of Saint Martyress Tatiana]