St. Bibiana

St. Bibiana, also called Viviana, is venerated as a Roman virgin and martyr of the early Church. According to the traditional account, she belonged to a Christian family of Rome that suffered greatly in the persecutions of the fourth century: her father Flavian, her mother Dafrosa, and her sister Demetria are all remembered as martyrs, so that Bibiana was left orphaned and stripped of the family's goods for the sake of the faith.

Subjected to pressure, imprisonment, and cruel treatment meant to break her constancy and her purity, she remained steadfast, and at last, it is said, she was scourged to death with leaded whips and her body left unburied until pious hands laid it to rest. A church on the Esquiline Hill in Rome, Santa Bibiana, has borne her name since ancient times and marks the site associated with her burial. Though many details of her passion belong to later legend, her early cult is well attested, and she is commemorated on 2 December.