Philomena

On December 21, 1833, the Holy Office declared that there was nothing contrary to the Catholic faith in the revelations that Maria Luisa di Gesù, a Dominican tertiary from Naples, claimed to have received from Philomena herself.

According to Maria Luisa di Gesù, Philomena told her she was the daughter of a king in Greece who, with his wife, had converted to Christianity. At the age of about 13, she took a vow of virginity for Christ's sake. When the Emperor Diocletian threatened to make war on her father, her father went with his family to Rome to ask for peace. The Emperor "fell in love" with the young Philomena and, when she refused to be his wife, subjected her to a series of torments: scourging, from whose effects two angels cured her; drowning with an anchor attached to her (two angels cut the rope and raised her to the river bank); and being shot with arrows (on the first occasion her wounds were healed; on the second, the arrows turned aside; and on the third, they returned and killed six of the archers, after which several of the others became Christians). Finally, the Emperor had her decapitated. The story goes that the decapitation occurred on a Friday at three in the afternoon, as with the death of Jesus. The two anchors, three arrows, the palm, and the ivy leaf on the tiles found in the tomb were interpreted as symbols of her martyrdom.

In the Neapolitan tertiary's account, Philomena also revealed that her birthday was 10 January, that her martyrdom occurred on 10 August (the date also of the arrival of her relics in Mugnano del Cardinale), and that her name "Filumena" meant "daughter of light" (from Latin "filia" and "lumen;" however, it is usually taken to be derived from Greek φιλουμένη philouménē (hence Latin "u" for "ου") meaning "beloved."). Publication of this account gave rise to critical study both of the account itself and of the many archaeological finds, leading to uncertainty that her supposed tomb was in fact that of a martyr.

On May 24, 1802, in the Catacombs of Priscilla on the Via Salaria Nova, an inscribed loculus (a space hollowed out of the rock) was found, and on the following day it was carefully examined and opened. The loculus was closed with three terracotta tiles on which was the following inscription: lumena paxte cumfi. It was and is generally accepted that the tiles had not been positioned in the sequence of the words and that the inscription originally read, with the leftmost tile placed on the right: pax tecum Filumena ("Peace with you, Philomena"). The skeleton of a female between thirteen and fifteen years old was found within the loculus. Embedded in the cement was a small glass vial with vestiges of what was taken to be blood. By the assumptions of the time, the remains were taken to be those of a virgin martyr named Philomena.Butler's Lives of the Saints, edition quoted in [http://www.le.ac.uk/users/grj1/ssmain.html Saints at a Glance by Dr G.R.Jones], University of Leicester {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606141913/http://www.le.ac.uk/users/grj1/ssmain.html |date=2011-06-06 }}

The belief that such vials were signs of the grave of a martyr was rejected by the investigations of Giovanni Battista De Rossi (1822–1894),[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12025b.htm Kirsch, Johann Peter. "St. Philomena." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 12. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 29 Apr. 2013] but more recently, this original view has found advocates, such as theologian Mark Miravalle.

In 1805, Canon Francesco De Lucia of Mugnano del Cardinale requested relics for his oratory and, on 8 June, obtained the remains discovered in May 1802 (then reduced to dust and fragments)."corpus … in pulverem et in fragmina redactum", as described in the document with which the remains where handed over (quoted in [http://www.philomena.us/Present%20Ecclesial%20Status-St.%20Philomena%20Nov%204.htm Present Ecclesial Status of Devotion to St. Philomena] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050425144752/http://www.philomena.us/Present%20Ecclesial%20Status-St.%20Philomena%20Nov%204.htm |date=2005-04-25 }}) The relics arrived in Mugnano on August 10, and were placed in the Church of Our Lady of Grace.[http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/65825 Enciclopedia dei Santi: Santa Filomena di Roma] A new Church of Our Lady of Grace was built, containing a chapel to which the sacred relics were moved on 29 September 1805.{{Cite web |url=http://www.philomena.us/saint-2/history-saint-philomena/discovery-translation-shrine/ |title="Discovery and Translation to the Shrine", Sanctuary of Saint Philomena |access-date=2014-03-07 |archive-date=2016-04-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160402003926/http://www.philomena.us/saint-2/history-saint-philomena/discovery-translation-shrine/ |url-status=dead }}

In 1827, Pope Leo XII gave the church in Mugnano del Cardinale the three inscribed terracotta slabs taken from the tomb.

In his Relazione istorica della traslazione del sagro corpo di s. Filomena da Roma a Mugnano del Cardinale, written in 1833,Francesco Di Lucia, Relazione istorica della translazione del corpo di S. Filomena vergine, e martire da Roma a Mugnano del Cardinale, vol. 2, pp. 80ff. Canon De Lucia recounted that wonders accompanied the arrival of the relics to his church: among them a statue that sweated some liquid continuously for three days. A miracle accepted as proved in the same year was the multiplication of the bone dust of the saint which provided for hundreds of reliquaries without the original amount experiencing any decrease in quantity.[https://www.redlandsdailyfacts.com/2015/08/12/professing-faith-the-strange-story-of-st-philomena/ "Professing Faith: The strange story of St. Philomena", Redlands Daily Facts, August 12, 2015]

Devotion to Philomena includes the wearing of the "Cord of Philomena", a red and white cord, which had a number of indulgences attached to it, including a plenary indulgence on the day on which the cord was worn for the first time, indulgences that were not renewed in Indulgentiarum doctrina, the 1967 general revision of the discipline concerning them.[https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/apost_constitutions/documents/hf_p-vi_apc_19670101_indulgentiarum-doctrina_en.html Pope Paul VI, Apostolic Constitution Indulgentiarum doctrina (1 January 1967)]; cf.[https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/tribunals/apost_penit/documents/rc_trib_appen_doc_20020826_enchiridion-indulgentiarum_lt.html Enchiridion Indulgentiarum] There is also the chaplet of Saint Philomena, with three white beads in honour of the Christian Trinity and thirteen red beads in honour of the thirteen years of Philomena's life.Saint Philomena: Virgin martyr and wonder worker. Cecily Hallack. Dublin, Ireland; Anthonian Press, 1936 Pages 120–124 A sacramental associated with devotion to Philomena is the Oil of Saint Philomena, used for the putative healing of the body and soul.{{cite web |title=The Oil of Saint Philomena |url=http://philomena.us/oil-saint-philomena/ |publisher=Sanctuary of Saint Philomena |access-date=26 January 2020 |language=en |archive-date=26 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200126070431/http://philomena.us/oil-saint-philomena/ |url-status=dead }}

In August 1876, the first issue of Messenger of Saint Philomena was published in Paris, France. On October 6, 1876, Louis Petit, a priest, founded the Confraternity of Saint Philomena in Paris. In November 1886, the Confraternity was raised to the rank of Archconfraternity by Pope Leo XIII. On May 21, 1912, Pope Pius X raised it to the rank of Universal Archconfraternity with the Apostolic brief Pias Fidelium Societates stating, regarding the historical authenticity of Philomena, that: "The current statements (regarding St. Philomena) are and remain always fixed, valid and effective; in this way it has to be judged as normative; and if it is proceeded in another way, it will be null and void, whatever its authority."{{cite web |title=History of the Universal Arch Confraternity (Archconfraternity) of Saint Philomena |url=http://www.philomena.org/archconfraternityhistory.asp |access-date=21 June 2012}}Pias Fidelium, (May 21, 1912), AAS 4, 1912, p. 398.

File:Bamberg Obere Pfarre Figur Hl Philomena.jpg]]

In 1834, due to many supposed miracles, Pope Gregory XVI allowed the veneration of Saint Philomena and, in 1837, authorized the celebration of the feast of Saint Philomena on 11 August or, according to another source, 9 September, first in the Diocese of Nola (to which Mugnano del Cardinale belongs), and soon in several other dioceses in Italy.

The name "Philomena" was not included in the Roman Martyrology in which venerated persons are included immediately upon beatification or canonization."With the canonization of a new saint, that person is officially listed in the catalogue of saints, or Martyrology" ([http://www.catholicculture.org/news/definition.cfm?glossID=16&CFID=7042024&CFTOKEN=42752938 Canonization]); "as soon as the beatification or canonization event takes place, the person's name is technically part of the Roman Martyrology" ([http://www.ecatholichub.net/study/saints Catholic Saints Database] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120224080055/http://www.ecatholichub.net/study/saints |date=2012-02-24 }}); cf. ([https://www.nytimes.com/1995/01/29/weekinreview/word-for-word-martyrology-brutalized-colonial-africa-1909-beatified-rome-1994.html New York Times] [http://catholicbiblestudent.com/2008/08/roman-martyrology.html The Roman Martyrology]). In the 1920 typical edition of the Roman Missal, Philomena is mentioned under 11 August with an indication that the Mass for her feast day was to be taken entirely from the common liturgy.

On February 14, 1961, the Holy See ordered that the name of Philomena be removed from all liturgical calendars.Acta Apostolicae Sedis, 1961, p. 174. The text can be consulted [https://www.vatican.va/archive/aas/documents/AAS%2053%20%5B1961%5D%20-%20ocr.pdf on the website] of the Holy See. It is also available at [http://www.introibo.fr/Instruction-De-calendariis#inter4 Instruction De calendariis particularibus (1961)] together with a French translation and a note that recounts the history of the devotion and that says a different saint named Philomena (5 July) and two called Philomenus (14 and 29 November) were listed in the Roman Martyrology. This order was given as part of an instruction on the application to local calendars of the principles enunciated in the 1960 Code of Rubrics that had already been applied to the General Roman Calendar. Section 33 of this document ordered the removal from local calendars of fourteen named feasts but allowed them to be retained in places with a special link to the feast. It then added: "However, the feast of Saint Philomena, virgin and martyr (11 August), is to be removed from all calendars."Festum autem S. Philumenae V. et M. (11 augusti) e quolibet calendario expungatur.

• The spread of devotion to her in France and Italy was helped when John Vianney built a shrine in her honour and referred to her often, attributing to her the miracles that others attributed to him.
• Another help was the cure of the near-dying Pauline Jaricot, founder of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, at Philomena's shrine on August 10, 1835. On July 6, 1835, the Miracle{{clarify|date=November 2024}} of Giovanna Cescutti took place in Venice.
• Damien of Molokai, who had an intense devotion to Philomena, named his church at Kalawao in honor of her.[https://web.archive.org/web/20070310210331/http://www.nps.gov/kala/historyculture/stphil.htm "St. Philomena Catholic Church in Kalawao", Kalaupapa National Historical Park, US National Park Service]
• Many other saints were devoted to Philomena, including Peter Julian Eymard, Peter Chanel, Anthony Mary Claret, Madeleine Sophie Barat, Euphrasier Pelletier, John Neumann, and Anna Maria Taigi.{{Cite web|url=http://www.shrineofsaintphilomena.com/FAQ/FAQ.HTM|title=Welcome to the National Shrine of Saint Philomena|access-date=2012-06-21|archive-date=2021-09-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210926040651/http://www.shrineofsaintphilomena.com/FAQ/FAQ.HTM|url-status=dead}}

• Sanctuary of St. Philomena, Mugnano del Cardinale, Avellino, Italy, which houses her remains within a life-size, richly robed effigy
• St. Philomena's Cathedral (India)
• St. Philomena's Church (Cincinnati, Ohio)
• St. Philomena's Church (Pittsburgh, PA)
• St Philomena's Catholic High School for Girls
• St Philomena’s Catholic Church (Lansdowne, PA)
• St. Philomena's Roman Catholic Church (Franklinville, New York)
• [https://www.santuariosantafilomena.org.br/ Sanctuary of St. Philomena (Sorocaba, Brazil)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190201153556/http://www.santuariosantafilomena.org.br/ |date=2019-02-01 }}
• St. Philomena's Catholic Church and School (Peoria, Illinois)
• St. Philomena's Catholic Church (Monticello, Illinois)
• St. Philomena Coptic Orthodox Children’s Home (Suva, Fiji){{Cite web |title=Saint Philomena Children's Home |url=https://www.stphilomenahome.org/ |access-date=2023-10-11 |website=Saint Philomena Children's Home |language=en}}

Although correlation does not prove causation, the Holy See's instruction to remove the name of Philomena even from local calendars followed the raising of questions by certain scholars, whose interest had been drawn to the phenomenon more especially in connection with the revelations of Sister Maria Luisa di Gesù. The questions were raised in particular by Orazio Marucchi, whose study in the late 19th Century won the support of Johann Peter Kirsch, an archaeologist and ecclesiastical historian who is the author of the 1911 article on Philomena in the Catholic Encyclopedia. Orazio Marucchi had argued that the inscription on the three tiles that had provided the Latin name "Filumena" belonged to the middle or second half of the second century, while the body that had been found was of the fourth century, when the persecutions of Christians had ended. Thus, on his theory, not only the name but also the leaf, the two anchors and the palm that decorated the three tiles, and which had been believed to indicate that Filumena was a martyr, had no relation to the person whose remains were found. The alleged disarrangement of the tiles would be explained by a fourth-century practice of re-using materials already engraved, with the aim of indicating that it was not the same person who was now buried in the place.

More recently, Mark Miravalle has argued that Marucchi's conclusions should not be taken as the final word on the historicity of St. Philomena. His book, It Is Time to Meet St. Philomena, cites several specialists who disagree with Marucchi's conclusions.(Mark Miravalle, It Is Time to Meet St. Philomena. Queenship Publishing 2007, pp. 12–13). Historian Michael S. Carter (who supports Miravalle's position) has written about devotion to Saint Philomena within the broader context of veneration of "catacomb martyrs" and their relics in the history of the United States.{{Cite journal|url= https://muse.jhu.edu/article/685105/summary|title=Glowing With the Radiance of Heaven: Roman Martyrs, American Saints, and the Devotional World of Nineteenth-Century American Catholicism|year=2018|doi=10.1353/cht.2018.0001|last1=Carter|first1=Michael S.|journal=U.S. Catholic Historian|volume=36|pages=1–26|s2cid=166113874|url-access=subscription}} Moreover, In April 2005, at the Conference of Philomenian Studies – 1805-2005, findings of a study carried out on the tiles by the Opificio delle Pietre Dure e Laboratori di Restauro (Factory of Hard Stones and Restoration Laboratories) of Florence were made public. The analysis confirmed that only one type of mortal lime could be found on the tiles, thus giving strong support to the theory that the tiles had not been re-arranged.{{Cite web|url=http://philomena.it/2015August13.html|title=The Miracles used for the canonization of Saint Philomena and supporting previous and recent studies|website=philomena.it|access-date=2016-08-23}}

Others stress that the authenticity of her cult can be grounded on account of the miracles attributed to her, its long-standing papal approbation, and the saint's continued popularity. This has been the position of the rector of the shrine in Mugnano del Cardinale and the view presented in the Italian-language Enciclopedia Dei Santi. Pilgrims from all over the world arrive continually at Philomena's shrine in the Diocese of Nola, Italy, displaying an intense degree of popular devotion.

The website of "The National Shrine of Saint Philomena, Miami, Florida" (associated with the SSPX) sees "the action taken in 1960 as the work of the devil in order to deprive the people of God of a most powerful Intercessor, particularly in the areas of purity and faith at a time when these virtues were so much being challenged as they continue to be up until now!"{{Cite web |url=http://www.shrineofsaintphilomena.com/FAQ/FAQ.HTM |title=Did Saint Philomena Really Exist? |access-date=2012-06-21 |archive-date=2021-09-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210926040651/http://www.shrineofsaintphilomena.com/FAQ/FAQ.HTM |url-status=dead }}

{{Reflist}}

• Marie Helene Mohr, SC, Saint Philomena, Powerful with God, Rockford, IL: TAN Books and Publishers, Inc, 1988.
• Philomena in David Hugh Farmer, The Oxford Dictionary of Saints, (Oxford University Press, 2004) {{ISBN|0-19-860949-3}}
• Mark Miravalle, [https://web.archive.org/web/20130327024315/http://www.philomena.it/all-content-type/about/present-ecclesial-status-of-devotion-to-saint-philomena.html Present Ecclesial Status of Devotion to St. Philomena], (Queenship Publishing, 2002) {{ISBN|1-57918-228-3}} (also on Internet: see below)
• Cecily Hallack, Saint Philomena: Virgin martyr and wonderworker. Dublin, Ireland; Anthonian Press, 1936
• Alfonso Ramos, Santa Filomena: Princesa del cielo. Chihuahua, Mexico; Ultimo Sello, 2013.
• Michael S. Carter, Glowing With the Radiance of Heaven: Roman Martyrs, American Saints, and the Devotional World of Nineteenth-Century American Catholicism in U.S. Catholic Historian, Volume 36, Number 1 (Winter 2018), pp. 1–26

{{Commons category|Saint Philomena}}

• [https://isidore.co/calibre/#book_id=6173&library_id=CalibreLibrary&panel=book_details St. Philomena the Wonder-Worker by Paul O'Sullivan] (ePub file)
• [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12025b.htm Johann Peter Kirsch, "St. Philomena" in Catholic Encyclopedia] (New York 1911)
• [https://books.google.com/books?id=_zJJtvK2_KsC&dq=Philomena+Oxford+Dictionary+Saints&pg=PA360 David Farmer, "Philomena" in The Oxford Dictionary of Saints, Fifth Revised Edition (Oxford University Press 2011] {{ISBN|978-0-19959660-7}})
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20130327024315/http://www.philomena.it/all-content-type/about/present-ecclesial-status-of-devotion-to-saint-philomena.html Dr Mark Miravalle, Present Ecclesial Status of Devotion to St. Philomena], 2002, Retrieved March 12, 2013
• [http://www.philomena.it Sanctuary of St. Philomena] in Mugnano del Cardinale, Italy
• [http://www.saintsbooks.net/books/Fr.%20Paul%20O%27Sullivan,%20O.P.,%20E.D.M.%20-%20Saint%20Philomena%20the%20Wonder-Worker.htm The Life and Miracles of Saint Philomena, Virgin and Martyr.] This English version was published in 1863, translated from the French version published in 1834 by Joseph-François Barrelle, SJ, in Fribourg, Switzerland.
• [http://www.catholictradition.org/Litanies/litany68.htm Litany to Saint Philomena]
• [http://www.catholictradition.org/Saints/philomena.htm Catholic Tradition Saint Philomena]
• [http://philomena.org/countries.asp List of Places Devoted to Saint Philomena]

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