Serena from Rome

Saint Serena of Rome was reportedly an early Christian martyr in the 3rd century . Her feast day is August 16 . According to tradition, Serena was the wife of the Roman emperor Diocletian , but this is to be regarded as fiction; his wife's real name was Prisca.

The martyrology (list of martyrs) of Saint Ado of Vienne (9th century) and the Martyrologium Romanum of the Catholic Church are listed with the entry “A Roma, S. Serena, moglie di Diocleziano” ( [Martyr's death] in Rome, St. Serena, Wife of Diocletian ).

According to tradition about Saints Marcellus and Susanna , Empress Serena defended the Christians against the persecution under her husband. She was cast out and suffered martyrdom.

Laktanz correctly reports in De mortibus persecutorum ( On the ways in which the persecutors died ) that Prisca was the wife of Emperor Diocletian.

According to other sources, Serena did not die as a martyr, but lived and died in exile in Foglia, today a district of Magliano Sabina in the Lazio region , where her relics are also kept. She is considered the patron saint of Lazio.

The existence of Saint Serena of Rome is therefore very doubtful, and she is no longer listed in more recent martyrologies.

literature

• Michael Lapidge: The Roman Martyrs. Introduction, Translations, and Commentary. Oxford 2018, p. 282 ff.