Martyr Zoe of Rome

IMPORTANT NOTE: this saint should be distinguished from another, separate St. Zoe of Attalia (Pamphylia) — wife of Martyr Hesperus, mother of Cyriacus and Theodulus, who suffered under Emperor Hadrian (feast May 2); these are two different families separated by a century and a half. The image inscribed in Greek "Η ΑΓΙΑ ΖΩΗ" is a generic caption that does not distinguish between the two namesakes — the date already present in the stub (December 18) identifies this specifically as the Roman Zoe.

Saint Martyr Zoe, wife of Nicostratus, a Roman treasury official, had been mute for six years. Meeting Hieromartyr Sebastian, she was healed by his sign of the cross, regained her speech, and afterward reported a vision of an angel with an open book during his preaching, glorifying Christ. Together with her husband she received baptism.

She was later seized while praying at the tomb of the Apostle Peter; at trial she fearlessly confessed her faith and was executed — hanged by her hair over the smoke of rotting refuse until she died; her body was thrown into the Tiber. Tradition holds she later appeared in a vision to Hieromartyr Sebastian, announcing her martyrdom.

Her feast is kept on December 18/31.