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The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity


from its origins to circa AD 700, across the entire Christian world


Name

Bibiana, martyr of Rome under the emperor Julian

Saint ID

S00728

Number in BH

BHL 1322-1323; 6849/6849a

Reported Death Not Before

361

Reported Death Not After

363

Gender
Female
Type of Saint
Martyrs
Related Evidence Records
IDTitle
E01313The Liber Pontificalis, written in Latin in Rome in the 530s, and re-edited before 546, in its account of *Simplicius (bishop of Rome, ob. 483, S00729) tells how he dedicated churches in and around Rome to *Stephen (the First Martyr, S00030), *Andrew (the Apostle, S00288), and *Bibiana (martyr of Rome under the emperor Julian, S00728); made arrangements concerning clergy in the churches of *Peter (the Apostle, S00036), *Paul (the Apostle, S00008), and *Laurence (deacon and martyr of Rome, S00037); and made gifts to St Peter's basilica; it closes with a record of his burial in St Peter's basilica on 2 March [AD 483].
E01678The short Life of *Leo II (bishop of Rome, ob. 683, S00875) in the Liber Pontificalis, written in Latin in Rome soon after his death, records his building of a church of *Paul (the Apostle, S00008), close to the church of *Bibiana (martyr of Rome under the emperor Julian, S00728); his translation there of the bodies of the martyrs *Simplicius, Faustinus, and Beatrix (martyrs of Rome, S00886); and his burial at the church of *Peter (the Apostle, S00036) on 3 July. Some manuscripts also attribute to Leo II the building of the church of *Sebastianus (martyr of Rome, S00400) and *George (soldier and martyr, S00259) at the Velabro.
E02503The Latin Martyrdom of *Pigmenius, *Bibiana and Companions (martyrs of Rome under the emperor Julian, S00728 and S01445) narrates Pigmenius' teaching and ordination of *Donatus (bishop and martyr of Arezzo, S01527) and the future emperor Julian; the apostasy of Julian and the persecutions he carries out as emperor. Other martyrs of Rome under Julian are worked into the story: *Priscus, Priscillianus and Benedicta (S01516), *Iohannes and Paulus (brothers and eunuchs, S00384), *Iohannes (martyr buried on the via Salaria, S00514), and, above all, the young girl Bibiana - before the martyrdom and burial of Pigmenius himself. An appendix narrates Julian's death, skinned alive in Persia. Written presumably in Rome, at an uncertain date, probably in the 6th or 7th c.