St Bibiana: Virgin Martyr of Rome, Feast and Prayer

St Bibiana, also called Viviana, is a virgin and martyr of Rome whose basilica on the Esquiline has stood since the fifth century. The Church kept her feast on 2 December, and in the Missal of 1962 it is still a feast of the third class with its own proper prayer, which praises God for joining "the palm of martyrdom to the flower of virginity". Below is what is certain about her, what the old legend tells, the full prayers of her Mass in Latin and English, and what she has been invoked for down the centuries.

Who is St Bibiana?

The honest answer comes in two parts, and the older hagiographers themselves kept them apart.

What is certain. In Rome there is a church of St Bibiana that existed in the fifth century. The Liber Pontificalis, the ancient book of the lives of the popes, records that Pope St Simplicius (468-483) dedicated it, and that it held her body. A martyr named Bibiana was therefore venerated in Rome, at that place, from early times. Of the date of her death and the circumstances of her passion, Butler says plainly, "nothing certain is known".

What the legend tells. The lessons of her feast in the Roman Breviary and the notices in the Roman Martyrology come from a later account, which Butler calls "a quite untrustworthy compilation". The scholar Hippolyte Delehaye showed that it was assembled from older stories of the same kind, especially those of Sts John and Paul. We give it here as legend, because it is the story that the Church's books have handed down and the one the faithful have loved.

The story of St Bibiana's martyrdom

According to the legend, Bibiana was a native of Rome under the Emperor Julian the Apostate (361-363), the nephew of Constantine who turned back from Christ and tried to restore the worship of the gods. Her father, Flavian, had been prefect of the city; her mother was named Dafrosa; both were fervent Christians.

Flavian was arrested, branded in the face with a hot iron and sent into exile at Acquapendente, where he died. Dafrosa was first shut up in her own house, then beheaded. Bibiana and her sister Demetria were stripped of everything they owned and lived five months in poverty, in their house, given to fasting and prayer.

At last the two sisters were brought before the judge. Demetria, after confessing Christ, fell dead in his presence. The judge handed Bibiana over to a woman named Rufina, cunning and practised, who undertook to win her away from her faith and her virginity. Flattery failed, and blows failed as well. Bibiana was then tied to a pillar and scourged with whips loaded with lead until she died.

Her body was thrown out in the open to be eaten by dogs, but the animals would not touch it. After two days a priest named John buried it by night, near the palace of Licinius, in the house where her mother and sister already lay.

The prayer of St Bibiana (Missal of 1962)

The most authentic prayer to St Bibiana is the Collect of her Mass in the Roman Missal. The other parts of the Mass come from the Common of a Virgin Martyr (Me exspectaverunt), but the Collect is proper to her.

Collect, 2 December

Deus, ómnium largítor bonórum, qui in fámula tua Bibiána cum virginitátis flore martýrii palmam conjunxísti: mentes nostras ejus intercessióne tibi caritáte conjúnge; ut, amótis perículis, prǽmia consequámur ætérna. Per Dóminum nostrum Jesum Christum, Fílium tuum: qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitáte Spíritus Sancti Deus, per ómnia sǽcula sæculórum. Amen.

O God, the giver of all good things, who in Thy handmaid Bibiana didst join the palm of martyrdom to the flower of virginity: unite our minds to Thee in charity through her intercession, that, all dangers being taken away, we may obtain the rewards everlasting. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.

Secret

Hóstias tibi, Dómine, beátæ Bibiánæ Vírginis et Mártyris tuæ dicátas méritis, benígnus assúme: et ad perpétuum nobis tríbue proveníre subsídium. Per Dóminum nostrum.

Graciously receive, O Lord, the offerings dedicated to Thee for the merits of blessed Bibiana, Thy Virgin and Martyr, and grant that they may avail us for perpetual help. Through our Lord.

Postcommunion

Divíni múneris largitáte satiáti, quǽsumus, Dómine, Deus noster: ut, intercedénte beáta Bibiána Vírgine et Mártyre tua, in ejus semper participatióne vivámus. Per Dóminum nostrum.

Filled with the bounty of Thy divine gift, we beseech Thee, O Lord our God, that by the intercession of blessed Bibiana, Thy Virgin and Martyr, we may ever live by partaking of it. Through our Lord.

The Collect asks for two things: to be bound to God by charity, as Bibiana was bound to Him by virginity and martyrdom, and to be freed from dangers on the way to heaven. It is a prayer anyone may say on her feast or on any day, alone or as the close of a decade of the Rosary. The Gospel of her Mass is the parable of the treasure hidden in a field and the pearl of great price (St Matthew xiii. 44-52): she sold all she had, the Church reads it, to buy that one field.

When is the feast day of St Bibiana?

The feast of St Bibiana falls on 2 December. In the Roman calendar of 1962 it is a feast of the third class, with red vestments. Since 2 December almost always falls in Advent (the exception is a year when the First Sunday of Advent falls on 3 December), the Advent weekday is then commemorated at Mass and at Lauds. You will find the day in our traditional Catholic calendar of 1962, and the Mass itself in the Roman Missal of 1962.

The calendar promulgated in 1969 no longer has a feast on 2 December: St Bibiana was dropped from the general calendar, though she keeps her place in the Roman Martyrology and is still honoured in Rome, at her own church. The 1962 books, which we follow, keep her feast in the universal calendar.

Her day opens a cluster of virgin martyrs in early December: two days later comes St Barbara, commemorated on 4 December, and on the 13th St Lucy of Syracuse.

The church of St Bibiana and Bernini's statue

The church of Santa Bibiana stands on the Esquiline, today close to Rome's Termini station. In 1624, under Pope Urban VIII, the church was rebuilt, and in the course of the works the bodies of Bibiana, of her mother Dafrosa and of her sister Demetria were found; the Breviary records that they were laid under the high altar.

Urban VIII entrusted the rebuilding to the young Gian Lorenzo Bernini, who also carved for the high altar the marble statue of St Bibiana, carved between 1624 and 1626. The saint stands beside the pillar of her scourging, holding the palm of martyrdom, her eyes raised to heaven. Anyone who walks out past Termini can still pray before her relics, under the altar where Bernini set her.

What is St Bibiana the patron saint of?

Butler gives the reason for her old patronage: because in her story she was locked up with mad people, St Bibiana was widely honoured as a patron of the insane and of epileptics. Those are her traditional patronages: the mentally ill and those who suffer from epilepsy, and by extension from headaches and nervous ailments.

Later devotional accounts add a herb: a plant said to grow in the garden beside her church, on ground held to have been soaked by her blood, was gathered and used against epilepsy and headaches. That is a pious custom, reported by popular books, not a miracle the Church has judged.

Recent lists often call St Bibiana "the patron saint of hangovers". We have not found that patronage in the traditional sources; it seems to be a modern popular association, perhaps grown out of her old patronage against headaches. Better to ask her what the Collect asks: charity, and freedom from danger.

St Bibiana in Italian folklore

In Italy her day became a weather saying, known in many local forms. In Italian it runs: Se piove il giorno di Santa Bibiana, piove quaranta dì e una settimana, "If it rains on St Bibiana's day, it will rain for forty days and a week." Whatever the weather of 2 December, the countryside said, it would last for six weeks. It is a proverb, not a prophecy, but it shows how deeply her feast entered the life of the people.

What can we learn from St Bibiana?

The legend may be late, but what it praises is not. It shows a family that held to Christ under an emperor who had abandoned Him: a father exiled, a mother put to death, two daughters stripped of everything, who spent their poverty in prayer and fasting. It shows a young woman for whom flattery was more dangerous than torture, and who resisted both. And it shows the Church of Rome, from the fifth century, gathering at her tomb.

On why we address the saints and ask for their prayers, see why do Catholics pray to saints. St Bibiana takes her place among the saints of the year in our guide to the Catholic saints, listed by feast day.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is the patron St Bibiana?

St Bibiana, or Viviana, is a virgin and martyr of Rome, venerated at the church built over her tomb on the Esquiline since the fifth century. By tradition she died under Julian the Apostate, scourged at a pillar for refusing to give up her faith and her virginity.

What is St Bibiana the patron saint of?

Traditionally of the mentally ill and of epileptics, and so of those who suffer from headaches and nervous illnesses.

When is the feast of St Bibiana?

On 2 December. In the Missal of 1962 it is a feast of the third class, usually with a commemoration of the Advent weekday.

How did St Bibiana die?

According to her acts, she was tied to a pillar and scourged with whips weighted with lead until she died. Her body was thrown to the dogs, who would not touch it, and a priest named John buried it two days later.

What miracles are attributed to St Bibiana?

The legend tells that the dogs left her body untouched. Later devotional accounts credit cures of epilepsy and headaches to a herb said to grow in the garden beside her church.

What did Bernini make for St Bibiana?

The marble statue of the saint on the high altar of her church in Rome (1624-1626), showing her beside her pillar with the palm of martyrdom, when Urban VIII had the church rebuilt after the finding of her relics.

Is St Bibiana still a saint?

Yes. The removal of her feast from the general calendar in 1969 did not touch her sanctity: she remains in the Roman Martyrology and in the traditional calendar of 1962, which keeps her feast on 2 December.

The Iter Fidei app carries the traditional calendar of 1962 with every feast and commemoration, the Roman Missal and the Breviary in Latin and English. Join early access here.

Sources. Alban Butler, Lives of the Saints, 2 December (St Bibiana, or Viviana, Virgin and Martyr). Roman Breviary (edition before 1960), 2 December, lessons of the second nocturn (in the Breviary of 1962 this third-class feast has a single, contracted lesson). Roman Missal (1962), Proper of Saints, 2 December, and Common of a Virgin Martyr. Holy Bible, Douay-Rheims version, St Matthew xiii. 44-52.