Juliana of Nicomedia
Anatolian saint
Feast: 16 February (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Who they were
The Latin and Greek Churches both honour a martyr named Juliana who died in the persecution under Diocletian. According to her Acts, which the Catholic Encyclopedia calls purely legendary, she lived at Nicomedia, was betrothed to the senator Eleusius and had a pagan father, Africanus; in the persecution of Maximian she was beheaded after terrible tortures.
The legend adds that a noble lady named Sephonia carried her body to Italy and buried it in Campania, which led to her being confused with St. Juliana of Cumae, a different martyr. Her feast is kept in the Latin Church on 16 February, and pictures show her leading a winged devil on a chain, from the struggles with the devil told in her Acts.
The miracles
There was never a formal cause: she has been honoured as a saint since before the Church's formal processes began.
Why that counted as sanctity
A martyr of Nicomedia honoured in both East and West.
- Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), via New Advent - St. Juliana
- Wikidata Q241423 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Juliana of Nicomedia (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 22 September 2026. Corrections welcome.