CatholicSaints.Info

Saint Febronia of Patti

5 July
2 July (intercession in the attack by Ascanio Anzalone)

Profile

Born to wealthy pagan family, she converted to Christianity as a young woman during the period of the persecutions of Diocletian; she was baptized by bishop Saint Agatone. Febronia decided to devote herself to God which led to great harassment by the locals and opposition from her family, especially her father who planned an advantageous arranged marriage for her. To escape the abuse at home, she fled to live in the caves on Mons Iovis. Her father found her and was so angry at her defiance that she threw her into the sea. Martyr.

The intercession of Febronia is credited with protecting the city of Patti, Sicily on several occasions –

from a plague in the 16th century

an earthquake in 1693

an earthquake in 1908

an earthquake in 1978

when the tryrannical Ascanio Anzalone bought the town as a fief from the Spanish government in 1656, he marched on the town to take possession of it and everything in it; as he approached on 2 July, the bells in the church enshrining the relics of Febronia began to ring on their own as a warning to the people to defend themselves

Born

late 3rd century in Patti, Sicily, Italy

Died

drowned in the sea off the coast of Mons Iovis in Sicly, Italy in the early 4th century
her body washed up on the beach of Minori, Salerno, Italy and was found by a young woman doing laundry there
relics enshrined in a silver urn at Patti, Sicily, Italy