St. Philomena with Anchor (SNV 051)

On May 24–25, 1802, in the Catacomb of St. Priscilla on the Via Salaria of Rome, human remains were discovered in a tomb sealed with three tiles. The tiles were decorated with palms, arrows, anchors, and an ivy leaf and bore the inscription when properly rearranged: ‘Pax Tecum Filumena’, that is, ‘Peace be with you, Philomena’. + According to apparitions of the saint herself, St. Philomena (c. 291-c. 304) was a young Greek consecrated virgin who suffered martyrdom during the reign of Diocletian. Having rejected the Roman Emperor for love of Christ, she was subjected to a series of tortures (such as flogging) and attempts on her life (being shot with arrows and drowned with an anchor tied to her neck). When these attempts failed to kill her, she was finally beheaded. + In this lovely image, St. Philomena, garbed in a yellow robe with an orange-red mantle, is depicted crowned with pink and white roses. Not fully visible in this detail, she holds an arrow and a stalk of lilies of purity and wears a noose of rope around her neck that is attached to a large anchor. A rich royal blue background is decorated with line drawings in gold of intertwined flowers and foliage. + Canonized by Pope Gregory XVI but never enrolled in the Roman Martyrology, St. Philomena’s Church-approved cultus was suppressed in 1961 despite her having been venerated for more than 150 years and by a number of people who themselves became saints no less—St. John Vianney and St. Damien of Molokai to cite but two. (Why? It’s a long story—too long to go into here.) Nevertheless, the beloved little saint still enjoys widespread, private veneration by the laity. + St. Philomena is patron saint of babies, children, and young people. Known as a ‘Wonder Worker (Thaumaturga)’, she is invoked in desperate cases and lost causes. “To Philomena, nothing is refused.” + Feast: August 11 + Image Credit (SNV 051): Detail of an antique image of St. Philomena from a late 19th-early 20th century devotional print, [probably] originally published by St. Norbertus Verlag, Vienna, Austria, from the designer’s private collection of religious ephemera.