Martyr Susanna Of Rome

Virgin-martyr Susanna of Rome came from a distinguished Christian family: she was the daughter of the priest Gabinius (brother of Pope Caius) and niece of Pope Caius of Rome (283–296), who was related to Emperor Diocletian. From her youth Susanna vowed virginity. When Diocletian sought to marry her to his co-emperor and kinsman Galerius Maximian, he sent the dignitary Claudius to negotiate; but conversations with Susanna instead converted Claudius himself, along with his wife Prepedigna and their sons Alexander and Cuthius. On learning of this, the enraged Diocletian had the new converts burned at Ostia and their ashes scattered into the sea; her father, the priest Gabinius, was also martyred. Susanna herself was brought to the imperial palace, where even the empress — secretly a Christian — sympathized with her resolve to preserve her virginity. When the official Macedonius demanded she sacrifice to idols, she replied, "I offer myself as a sacrifice to my Lord," and was beheaded, around 295 AD. Her family home on Rome's Quirinal Hill later became the church of Santa Susanna. Her feast is kept on August 11/24. She is a distinct figure from both Martyr Susanna the Deaconess of Palestine and Venerable Susanna, mother of St. Nina.