St. Prisca

St. Prisca is venerated as an early Roman virgin and martyr, one of the young witnesses whose blood, according to ancient tradition, consecrated the Church of Rome in the first centuries of persecution. The traditional accounts present her as a girl of noble Roman family who, refusing to sacrifice to the pagan gods and holding fast to her faith in Christ, was subjected to torments and at last put to death for the Lord.

Her memory is closely bound to one of the ancient churches of Rome, the basilica of Santa Prisca on the Aventine Hill, which bears her name and marks a place of very early Christian devotion. Although the details of her passion are known only through later and legendary accounts, and her story has sometimes been mingled with that of the Priscilla of the New Testament, the antiquity of her cult in the city is certain, and the Church keeps her commemoration on 18 January.