Saint Prisca

Despite numerous ancient documents, it is difficult to establish the true identity of the Roman martyr Saint Prisca. Its name means ancient, from the first times. An ancient tradition says that Saint Prisca was baptized, at the age of thirteen, by Saint Peter and, as her Roman name says, she would have been the “first” woman in the West to give testimony, through martyrdom, to her faith in Christ.

Saint Paul and Saint Prisca

In the 8th century, the Roman martyr began to be identified with Prisca, wife of Aquila, of whom Saint Paul speaks: “Greet Prisca and Aquila, my collaborators in Jesus Christ, who exposed their heads to save my life. To them I must give thanks, not only I, but also all the churches of the Gentiles” (Rm 16,3). The celebration of this day aims to honor the founder of the titular Church on the Aventine, to whom the funerary epigraph from the 5th century refers, preserved in the cloister of São Paulo outside the walls.

Martyrdom of Saint Prisca

The Roman proto-martyr would have been beheaded during the persecution of Claudius II (268-270), in the middle of the first century and her burial on the Via Ostiense, from where her body would have been taken to the Aventine. There are other documents that say that Saint Prisca was martyred in the time of Tiberius (45-54). Today’s saint is believed to have been buried in the catacombs of Priscilla, to which she gave her name, Priscilla is short for Prisca.

Title of Santa Prisca

Another tradition claims that the martyr is from the 3rd century, from the persecution of Claudius II, the Gothic (268-270). The title “titulus Aquilae et Priscae” began to be used due to the saint, which modifies the primitive title of which we already have news from the Roman synod of 499. The cardinal title with which they wanted to honor the church of S. Prisca, a saint today almost forgotten by calendars.