Saint Prisca

Infobox Saint
name= Saint Prisca
birth_date=
death_date=late 1st century
feast_day= January 18
venerated_in= Roman Catholic Church


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major_shrine= Santa Prisca
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Saint Prisca was a Roman young woman allegedly tortured and executed for her Christian faith. She is revered as a saint and a martyr by the Roman Catholic Church.

Legend

Prisca was of a noble family and at thirteen years of age was accused of Christianity before Emperor Claudius. By his command she was taken to the temple of Apollo to sacrifice there, and when she refused, was buffeted and sent to prison. She was released from prison, but when she still held steadfastly to the faith, they flogged her, poured boiling tallow upon her, and sent her back a second time. She was at last thrown to a lion in the amphitheater, but it quietly lay down at her feet. She was starved for three days in a slaves' prison house, and then tortured upon the rack. Pieces of flesh were next torn from her body with iron hooks, and she was thrown on a burning pile. She miraculously still remained alive, and was accordingly beheaded outside the city.

Burial and veneration

The Christians buried her body at the tenth milestone on the road from Rome to Ostia.

History

The online Catholic Encyclopedia says that all the above details are unreliable: "The whole narrative is unhistorical and its details impossible."

External links

* [http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/38250 Santa Prisca]
* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12428c.htm St. Prisca] at the Catholic Encyclopedia