SAINT PHILOMENA Patroness of the Living Rosary – August 11

In 1802 the remains of a young woman were found in the
catacomb of St. Priscilla on the Via Salaria. It was covered by stones,
the symbols on which indicated that the body was a martyr named St.
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 St. 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 of 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 honor. Pope Gregory XVI authorized her public
veneration and named her patroness of the Living Rosary. The cure of
Pope Pius IX, while archbishop of Imola, was attributed to
Philomena; in 1849, he 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 St.
John Vianney its patron. St. 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 St.
Anthony Mary Claret, St. Euphrasia Pelletier, St. Francis Xavier
Cabrini, Venerable John Nepomucene Neumann, St. Madeline Sophie
Barat, St. Peter Chanel, Blessed Peter Julian Eymard, Blessed Anna
Maria Taigi, and Venerable Pauline Jaricot.