Acta Sanctorum

Tatjana of Rom

12 January · passio
Latin source: Heiligenlexikon
St. Tatiana (also called Datiana), a Roman martyr under Emperor Alexander Severus (3rd century), who was a deaconess and daughter of a man who served three times as consul. She destroyed pagan idols by prayer, survived hooks, fire, and wild beasts, and was finally beheaded. The commentary notes that her Acts are nearly identical to those of St. Martina (January 1) and St. Prisca (January 18), raising the possibility that they describe the same person. 3rd century

ON ST. TATIANA, MARTYR.

Under the Emperor Alexander.

Commentary

Tatiana, Martyr at Rome (St.) BHL Number: 7989

From various sources.

[1] At Rome the feast of St. Tatiana, Martyr, is observed on the day before the Ides of January, as the Roman Martyrology records. Under the Emperor Alexander she was torn with hooks and combs, exposed to beasts, The feast of St. Tatiana. and cast into fire, but suffering no harm, she was at last struck by the sword and passed to heaven. Her Acts, which Baronius testifies survive in an ancient manuscript of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, we have received from that source, but they are entirely the same as those of St. Martina, as we noted on the 1st of January. It has sometimes given rise to the suspicion that Martina and Tatiana are one and the same person. Certainly the old Roman Martyrology and other Latin Martyrologies celebrate Martina; none except the Roman and Molanus in his Additions to Usuard The Acts are similar to those of St. Martina. makes mention of Tatiana. The Greeks in the Menologion, Anthologion, and Menaea have Tatiana on this day, but nowhere Martina. Be that as it may, it seemed best not to give the full Acts here, lest the bulk of our work grow unnecessarily and the reader be wearied if the same things are repeated too often; especially since at the margin of that Roman codex the following has been added in a recent hand: "This history is confused in many respects with the deeds of St. Martina the Virgin. Therefore it should be read with caution and corrected," etc. We shall give here only the beginning and end of those Acts:

[2] "While the Lord of heaven and earth, our Lord Jesus Christ, was reigning, Their beginning: and the servant of the devil, King Alexander, was opposing him, in the fourth year of his reign he issued a new and disgraceful edict: that the Galileans should sacrifice, or if they would not sacrifice, they should be condemned to death. And he sent prefects and governors to various places, so that Christians should be dragged in chains to sacrifice to idols, and they promised to carry out the Emperor's orders in all things. And receiving such commands written in many royal letters, they circulated new decrees, enforcing the obligation to sacrifice in the unclean worship, just as King Alexander had commanded them. Displaying statuettes of the gods, they ordered the greatest honors to be given to those who sacrificed; but those who did not sacrifice were to be destroyed by various punishments. With Alexander thus commanding, he orders the sacrifice to Apollo to be carried out throughout Rome, and offerings to be made; and Christian men and women to be violently dragged with torments to sacrifice to Apollo. The ministers of Satan were most wicked men: a certain Vitalis holding the rank of Count, Bassus the Chamberlain, and Caius the Domestic. These were appointed to devastate the worshippers of Christ."

[3] "The ending reads as follows: And when this voice was made, the executioners fell and died. End. Then Bishop Rhetoricus came with all his clergy, and also with the entire Roman Senate, and taking up her holy body, they placed it in a crystal casket in the twelfth region, glorifying God who is in heaven, because over those who trust in him the second death has no power. The King, however, was seized by pains in that very hour, and tearing at himself he ate his own flesh, and sighing and trembling he said: 'Have mercy on me, O God of the Christians, for I know that I have provoked your name, and have tortured your innocent handmaid. Justly will you afflict me in all the flames of punishment, and according to my works you will repay me, and all who deny you, Lord.' And a voice came from heaven: 'Enter the furnace of fire, Alexander, and go into the outer darkness which has been prepared for you, with fiery torments.' And there was a great earthquake. And a thousand souls of men believed in the Lord, and two thousand two hundred women. The passion of St. Tatiana was completed in the twelfth month, on the ninth day of that month, in the reign of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be honor and glory forever and ever, Amen."

[4] The Acts of St. Prisca are also similar to these, as we shall note on the 18th of January, The Acts of St. Prisca are similar. except that she is said to have been killed under Claudius, while Tatiana and Martina are said to have died under Alexander, and the disastrous death of the tyrant is reported to have followed the killing of both. Antonius Gallonius published the life of each, Martina and Tatiana, separately in Italian in his book on the Roman virgins. Tatiana is also called Datiana. Nor should we omit the fact that she who is called Tatiana by the Greeks, Baronius, Gallonius, Molanus, and others, is almost invariably called Datiana in the Acts.

[5] Galesinius on the 10th of January has the following in his Notes: "In Greece, on this very day, the feast of St. Tatiana the Martyr, whose renowned struggle for the glory of Christ is read in Greek." The Menologion edited by Canisius records her martyrdom thus: "The contest of St. Tatiana the Martyr, from ancient Rome, under the Emperor Alexander, who on account of her faith in Christ was brought before the Emperor, and entering the temple of idols with him, Summary of the Acts from the Greek sources. overthrew the images by her prayers and dashed them to the ground. For this reason she was struck in the face and her eyelids torn with hooks; then she was suspended and lacerated with combs, her head shaved. Finally, when she had remained unharmed though exposed to fire and wild beasts, she was struck with an axe and flew to heaven." And the Anthologion approved by Clement VIII: "She was from ancient Rome, in the times of the Emperor Alexander, daughter of a father who was three times consul, and a deaconess according to the rite of the Church. But being brought before the Emperor on account of the Christian religion, and entering with him into the shrine of idols, she overthrew the images by her prayers, dashed them to the ground, and broke them. For this reason her face was beaten, and her eyelids with the skin were torn off with hooks; then she was suspended and beaten, and her head was shaved. Finally, when she could be harmed neither by fire nor by beasts, she was struck with an axe."