Saint Symphorosa

Symphorosa (Italian: Sinforosa; died circa AD 138) is venerated as a saint of the Catholic Church. According to tradition, she was martyred with her seven sons at Tibur (present Tivoli, Lazio, Italy) toward the end of the reign of the Roman Emperor Hadrian (117–38), or during the reign of Trajan. The story of their martyrdom is told in an ancient Passio, the credibility of which is seriously questioned by many modern hagiologists. According to the Passio, Symphorosa was a Tiburtine matron and the widow of Getulius, a native of Gabii in Sabina. He was a tribune in the Roman army, but resigned upon being baptized a Christian, ultimately retiring to his estate near Tivoli, where he was joined by his brother, Amantius. Getulius and Amantius were subsequently beheaded under Emperor Hadrian. Symphorosa buried his remains on their estate. Not long after, Symphorosa and her children were arrested. When all of the Emperor's attempts to induce Symphorosa and her sons to sacrifice to the pagan Roman gods were unsuccessful, he ordered her to be brought to the Temple of Hercules, where, after various tortures, she was thrown into the Anio River with a heavy rock fastened to her neck. Her brother Eugenius, who was a member of the council of Tibur, buried her with her husband. The next day, the emperor summoned Symphorosa's seven sons, and being equally unsuccessful in his attempts to make them sacrifice to the gods, he ordered them to be tied to seven stakes erected for the purpose round the Temple of Hercules. The emperor ordered all seven to be tortured, and finally pierced with the sword. Their bodies were thrown en masse into a deep ditch at a place the pagan priests afterwards called Ad septem Biothanatos (the Greek word biodanatos, or rather biaiodanatos, was employed for self-murderers and, by the pagans, applied to Christians who suffered martyrdom).