Rufina and Secunda

Who they were

Rufina and Secunda were Roman martyrs who, according to their legendary Acts, suffered in the third century. They were buried at the ninth milestone of the Via Cornelia, where Pope Damasus built a church over their grave; the town that grew up there, Santa Rufina, became a suburbicarian see later united with Porto.

The miracles

There was never a formal cause: they have been honoured as martyrs since the early centuries.

Why that counted as sanctity

Rufina and Secunda are honoured as virgin martyrs of Rome whose grave became a place of pilgrimage and the seat of a diocese.