Victor and Corona | |
---|---|
Martyrs | |
Died | c. 170 AD |
Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church Eastern Orthodox Church |
Feast | 14 May (Roman Catholic Church) 11 November (Eastern Orthodox Church, Julian calendar) |
Patronage | Feltre; Castelfidardo; Corona is invoked in connection with causes involving money, such as gambling or treasure hunting. |
Saints Victor and Corona (also known as Saints Victor and Stephanie) are two Christian martyrs. Victor was a Roman soldier who was tortured and killed; Corona was killed for comforting him. Corona is invoked as a patron of causes involving money; she was not historically associated with pandemics or disease, but has been invoked against the coronavirus pandemic.
Their legend states that Victor was a Roman soldier of Italian ancestry, who was tortured, including having his eyes gouged out, and was beheaded. Most sources state that he and Corona were killed in Roman Syria during the reign of Marcus Aurelius (around the 160s-170s AD), but various hagiographical texts disagree about the site of their martyrdom, with some stating that it was Damascus, while Coptic sources state that it was Antioch. Some Western sources state that Alexandria or Sicily was their place of martyrdom. They also disagree about the date of their martyrdom. They may have been martyred during the reign of Antoninus Pius, or Diocletian, while the Roman Martyrology states that it was in the third century when they met their death. [1]
While he was suffering from the tortures, the sixteen-year-old wife of another soldier, named Corona or Stephanie (or Stefania or Stephana, from Greek στέφᾰνος, stéphanos, "crown", the Greek version of her Latin name, which also means "crown") [2] [3] [4] comforted and encouraged him. For this, she was arrested and interrogated. According to the passio of Corona, Corona was bound to two bent palm trees and torn apart as the trunks were released; the passio is considered largely fictional, and she herself may also be fictional. [5] Other sources state that Victor and Corona were husband and wife. [6] [7]
There is also debate as to where Corona was from; differing accounts place her in Syria, Sicily, and Marseille. [7]
Victor and Corona's memorial day is 24 November (11 November in the Orthodox church calendar). Their feast day is 14 May. Outside the town of Feltre in northern Italy, on the slopes of Mount Miesna, is the church of SS. Vittore e Corona, erected by the Crusaders from Feltre after the First Crusade.
Corona is especially venerated in Austria and eastern Bavaria. There is a chapel dedicated to her in Sauerlach, near Munich. [7] There are two churches named after her in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Passau and two towns named after her in Lower Austria. [7] A statue of her stands in the Münster Cathedral. [7]
Around 1000 AD Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor brought Corona's relics to Aachen in western Germany. [7] Her relics were rediscovered during excavation work at Aachen Cathedral in 1910. The relics were removed from a crypt and placed in a shrine inside the cathedral. [7]
Corona is the patroness of causes involving money, such as gambling and treasure hunting, a result of a later treasure hunter who credited his success to invoking her. [5] [8] [9] She is called upon by a treasure hunter to bring treasure, and then sent away through a similarly elaborate ritual. [10] She was not historically a patron saint of or invoked against pandemics or disease, but has been invoked against the COVID-19 pandemic. [5] [9] Her relics will be available for public veneration once the pandemic has passed. [9] [11]
Gavinus is a Christian saint who is greatly celebrated in Sardinia, Italy, as one of the Martyrs of Torres, along with his companions Protus, a bishop, and Januarius, a deacon.
Saint Lawrence or Laurence was one of the seven deacons of the city of Rome under Pope Sixtus II who were martyred in the persecution of the Christians that the Roman Emperor Valerian ordered in 258.
Agathaof Sicily is a Christian saint. Her feast is on 5 February. Agatha was born in Catania, part of the Roman Province of Sicily, and was martyred c. 251. She is one of several virgin martyrs who are commemorated by name in the Canon of the Mass.
Ursula was a Romano-British virgin and martyr possibly of royal origin. She is venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church and the Anglican Communion. Her feast day in the pre-1970 General Roman Calendar and in some regional calendars of the ordinary form of the Roman Rite is 21 October.
Vincent of Saragossa, the Protomartyr of Spain, was a deacon of the Church of Saragossa. He is the patron saint of Lisbon, Algarve, and Valencia. His feast day is 22 January in the Catholic Church, Anglican Communion, and the Eastern Orthodox Church, with an additional commemoration on 11 November in the Eastern Orthodox Church. He was born at Huesca and martyred under the Emperor Diocletian around the year 304.
Pancras was a Roman citizen who converted to Christianity and was beheaded for his faith at the age of fourteen, around the year 304. His name is Greek (Πανκράτιος) and means "all-powerful".
Saint Acacius, also known as Agathius of Byzantium, Achatius, or Agathonas to Christian tradition, was a Cappadocian Greek centurion of the imperial army, martyred around 304. A church existed in Constantinople associated with Acacius and possibly named after him: the Church of St Acacius.
Victor the Moor was a native of Mauretania and a Christian martyr, according to tradition, and is venerated as a saint.
The Four Crowned Martyrs or Four Holy Crowned Ones were nine individuals who are venerated as martyrs and saints of Early Christianity. The nine saints are divided into two groups:
Gereon of Cologne, who may have been a soldier, was martyred at Cologne by beheading, probably in the early 4th century.
Symphorosa is venerated as a saint of the Catholic Church. According to tradition, she was martyred with her seven sons at Tibur toward the end of the reign of the Roman Emperor Hadrian (117–38), or during the reign of Trajan.
Saint Polyeuctusof Melitene is a Christian saint from the Roman era.
Saint Honorina was a 3rd-century virgin martyr of Gallo-Roman northern France, venerated as a saint in the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches. Believed to have been killed in the first years of the 4th century during the persecutions of Diocletian, very little is known of her life, apart from her reputed martyrdom for maintaining her Christian faith.
Saint Caesarius of Terracina was a Christian martyr. The church of San Cesareo in Palatio in Rome bears his name.
Saints Marcellinus and Peter are venerated within the Catholic Church as martyrs who were beheaded. Hagiographies place them in 4th century Rome. They are generally represented as men in middle age, with tonsures and palms of martyrdom; sometimes they hold a crown each.
Saints Victoria, Anatolia, and Audax are venerated as martyrs and saints by the Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church. Victoria and Anatolia are mentioned in the Roman Martyrology under the date of 10 July. Anatolia was first mentioned in the De Laude Sanctorum composed in 396 by Victrice (Victricius), bishop of Rouen (330–409).
Restituta is a Berber saint and martyr of the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches. She was said to have been born in Carthage or Teniza and martyred under Roman Emperor Diocletian. The location and date of her martyrdom are not precisely known. She sometimes is considered one of the Martyrs of Abitinae, Roman Province of Africa, a group of North Africans including Dativus, Saturninus, et alia, who were martyred in AD 304.
Pontianus was a second century Christian martyr. He was martyred during the reign of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius. He is honored as a saint and martyr by the Catholic Church, the Old Catholic Church, and the Eastern Orthodox Church. In Spoleto, Italy, he is invoked for protection against earthquakes.
Christina of Bolsena, also known as Christine of Bolsena, or in the Eastern Orthodox Church as Christina the Great martyr, is venerated as a virgin martyr of the third century. Archaeological excavations of an underground cemetery constructed over her tomb have shown that she was venerated at Bolsena by the fourth century.
Luxurius or Luxorius was an ancient Roman official on Sardinia in the late 3rd and early 4th centuries. Apparitor to Delphius, the praeses or governor of the island, he was converted to Christianity by reading the Psalms. He possibly was beheaded on 21 August for refusing to sacrifice to idols in the city of Forum Traiani, probably in 304 during the fourth of Diocletian's persecutions. Later he was venerated as a martyr and saint by the Roman Catholic Church.