Martyr Susanna of Salerno

Venerable Martyr Susanna (Sosanna) of Salerno, together with her companions Archelais and Thekla, lived an ascetic life in a small community near Rome. When Emperor Diocletian launched a fierce persecution of Christians (284–305), the three women, to avoid capture, cut their hair, dressed as men, and withdrew to a remote area of Campania in Italy, near the city of Salerno. There they continued their life of fasting and prayer, and the Lord granted them a gift of healing; local people came to them for both physical cures and spiritual guidance, and many pagans were converted through their witness. When local authorities learned of their Christian faith, the women were arrested and ordered to sacrifice to idols. They refused and were subjected to severe tortures: according to tradition, lions set upon them would not attack, and a huge stone hurled at them was turned aside by an angel, crushing their persecutors instead. Seeing the torments were fruitless, the governor ordered them beheaded, in the year 293. The feast of the Venerable Martyrs Archelais, Thekla, and Susanna of Salerno is kept on June 6/19. This Susanna is distinct from Susanna of Rome, the deaconess-martyr Susanna of Palestine, and Susanna, mother of St. Nina of Georgia.