CatholicSaints.Info

Also known as

• Filomena
• Filumena
• Philumena
• Philomene
• Thaumaturga of the Nineteenth Century
• Wonder Worker of the Nineteenth Century

Memorial

• 11 August
• 6 September on some calendars
• removed from the general calendar in 1961 by Pope John XXIII, but continued devotion was permitted

Profile

Little is known of her life, and the information was have was received by private revelation from her. Martyred at about age 14 in the early days of the Church.

In 1802 the remains of a young woman were found in the catacomb of Saint Priscilla on the Via Salaria, Rome, Italy. It was covered by stones, the symbols on which indicated that the body was a martyr named Saint Philomena. The bones were exhumed, cataloged, and effectively forgotten since there was so little known about the person.

In 1805 Canon Francis de Lucia of Mugnano, Italy was in the Treasury of the Rare Collection of Christian Antiquity (Treasury of Relics) in the Vatican. When he reached the relics of Saint Philomena he was suddenly struck with a spiritual joy, and requested that he be allowed to enshrine them in a chapel in Mugnano. After some disagreements, settled by the cure of Canon Francis following prayers to Philomena, he was allowed to translate the relics to Mugnano. Miracles began to be reported at the shrine including cures of cancer, healing of wounds, and the Miracle of Mugnano in which Venerable Pauline Jaricot was cured a severe heart ailment overnight. Philomena became the only person recognized as a Saint solely on the basis of miraculous intercession as nothing historical was known of her except her name and the evidence of her martyrdom.

• Pope Leo XII granted permission for the erection of altars and churches in her honour
• Pope Gregory XVI authorized her public veneration, and named her patroness of the Living Rosary
• The cure of Pope Blessed Pius IX, while archbishop of Imola, was attributed to Philomena; in 1849, Pius named her patroness of the Children of Mary.
• Pope Leo XIII approved the Confraternity of Saint Philomena, and raised it to an Archconfraternity
• Pope Pius X raised the Archconfraternity to a Universal Archconfraternity, and named Saint John Vianney its patron
• Saint John Vianney himself called Philomena the New Light of the Church Militant, and had a strong and well-known devotion to her

Others with known devotion to her include

• Saint Anthony Mary Claret
• Saint Mary Euphrasia Pelletier
• Saint Francis Xavier Cabrini
• Saint John Nepomucene Neumann
• Saint Madeline Sophie Barat
• Saint Peter Chanel
• Saint Peter Julian Eymard
• Blessed Anna Maria Taigi
• Blessed Pauline Jaricot

Died

• relics discovered on 24 May 1802
• relics translated to Mugnano, Italy on 10 August 1805
• some relics enshrined in the Saint Thomas Cathedral Basilica in Santhome, Chennai, India

Canonized

• by Pope Gregory XVI

Patronage

• against barrenness
• against bodily ills
• against infertility
• against mental illness
• against sickness
• against sterility
• babies
• children
• Children of Mary
• desperate causes
• forgotten causes
• impossible causes
• infants
• lost causes
• Living Rosary
• newborns
• orphans
• poor people
• priests
• prisoners
• sick people
• students
• test takers
• toddlers
• young people
• youth

Representation

• anchor (an image of one was inscribed on her tomb)
• arrows
• crown
• lily

Readings

Nothing is denied to Saint Philomena. – Mary, Mother of God, during an apparition to Mother Mary Louisa of Jesus

To discredit the present decisions and declarations concerning Saint Philomena as not being permanent, stable, valid and effective, necessary of obedience, and in full-effect for all eternity, proceeds from an element that is null and void and without merit or authority. – Pope Saint Pius X, 1912

MLA Citation

• “Saint Philomena“. CatholicSaints.Info. 6 April 2024. Web. 24 April 2024. <>