St. Emerentiana of Rome

Commemorated January 23

St. Emerentiana was a Roman martyr, who lived in the third century.

Emerentiana’s mother was the wet nurse and nanny of Saint Agnes, a rich Roman heiress who was martyred after refusing her engagement due to her Christian religion.

Emerentiana herself was a catechumen, still learning about Christianity before being officially baptized.

A few days after Agnes' death, Emerentiana was caught praying by her tomb. Upset upon the death of her best friend and foster sister, she claimed that she was a Christian as well and belittled the pagans who had killed Agnes. For her dedication to Christ, she was stoned to death by the crowd.

In iconography, she is usually represented as a young girl who either has stones in her lap and lilies in her hand.

By permission of www.OrthodoxWiki.org