Oliva of Palermo

Statue of Saint Oliva in Palermo Cathedral

The hll. Oliva, Elija , Venera and Rosalia . Icon from the 13th century in the Diocesan Museum of Palermo

Oliva of Palermo (* around 448 in Palermo , † June 10, 463 in Tunis ) was an consecrated virgin and martyr . She is venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church .

Life

Oliva was next to the hll. Ninfa , Agatha and Christina one of the four patron saints of Palermo, until their veneration through the discovery of the relics of St. Rosalia lost its importance during the plague epidemic in 1624.

Legend has it that Oliva was born to a noble family in Palermo around 448. From a young age she vowed a virgin life for Christ's sake, gave alms and comforted the sick.

With the invasion of the Vandals under Geiseric in 454, the Christians in Sicily were persecuted. Oliva encouraged the captured Christians and asked them to be firm in their faith. Because of their noble origins and their fame, the Vandals did not dare to publicly execute a consecrated virgin in Palermo. So St. Oliva was sent to Tunis to the governor Almira there, where she was supposed to renounce Christianity. There, too, however, Oliva converted pagans to Christianity, so that after further unsuccessful attempts to dissuade them from the faith, she was sent into the desert in the hope that she would be torn apart by wild animals. Oliva survived and was taken back to Tunis, tortured and finally beheaded on June 10, 463. Their relics were recovered by Christians and secretly brought to Palermo, where they were buried. One of St. Oliva church , which was dedicated to St. Francis was consecrated by Paola .

Another tradition reports that St. Oliva lived in the 10th century at the time of the Arabs, was taken to Tunis by them and was martyred there. The feast day of St. Oliva is June 10th . In iconography, she is usually depicted as a virgin with an olive branch and a crucifix in her hands.

literature

• Giuseppe M. Agnello: La S. Oliva di Palermo nella storia e nelle vicende del culto. In: Archivio storico Siciliano. Ser. 3, Vol. 8, 1957, ISSN  1120-0715 , pp. 151-193.
• Matthew Bunson, Margaret Bunson, Stephen Bunson: Our Sunday Visitor's Encyclopedia of Saints. Our Sunday Visitor, Huntington IN 2003, ISBN 1-931709-75-0 .

Web links

• Carlo Di Franco: La patrona dimenticata: p. Oliva on Palermo Web