Feastday: January 23
Death: 304
Martyr of Rome, in some traditions the foster sister of St. Agnes, stoned to death when discovered praying at Agnes' grave. Emerentiana was possibly martyred elsewhere. Her cult was confined to local calendars in 1969.
Christian martyrSaint Emerentiana was a Roman martyr, who lived around the start of the 4th century. Her feast day is January 23.
Life
According to the legend of St. Agnes, Emerentiana was her foster-sister. St. Agnes was a rich Roman heiress who was martyred after refusing her engagement due to her Christian religion. Emerentiana's mother was the wet nurse and nanny of Saint Agnes.
A few days after Agnes' death, Emerentiana, who was a catechumen still learning about Christianity before being officially baptized, went to the tomb to pray and was suddenly attacked by the pagans, stoned to death by the crowd.
Emerentiana with stones in her lap
Veneration
Her feast day is January 23, She is represented as a young girl who either has stones in her lap and lilies in her hand, or as being stoned to death by a mob. Her tomb is in the church of Sant'Agnese fuori le mura in Rome. An altar dedicated to her with a marble relief by Ercole Ferrata depicting her martyrdom is in Sant'Agnese in Agone.
Popular culture
Emerentiana had a tiny cameo role in Cardinal Nicholas Wiseman's novel, Fabiola, where she is seen mourning for Agnes right after the latter's martyrdom.
