Santa Matronilla

Who they were

In 1782 the body of a Christian woman was taken from the Roman catacombs of Ciriaca; her tomb inscription read "Matronille que vixit annos xxx Benemerenti in pace" ("Matronilla, who lived thirty years, well-deserving, in peace"). In 1783 the body was sent as a gift to the Testori family's chapel at Mogliano (Treviso), and four years later placed in the parish church, where it is still shown for veneration only at Christmas and Easter.

The title of saint and martyr was given to her, without real grounds, by those in Rome who sent the relics. Nothing else is known of her beyond that she lived thirty years, probably in the early 4th century.

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

Body of an unknown early Christian woman, given the name and title of a martyr by those who sent her relics to Mogliano in 1783; nothing else is known of her.