St Philomena: Her Rise and later 'Unpersoning'

[Dawn Marie]

St Philomena: Her Rise and later 'Unpersoning'

From a forgotten tomb to worldwide veneration, St Philomena inspired miracles, papal praise, and the devotion of saints – until a 1961 decree, which resulted in her ‘unpersoning’ by John XXIII.

The following article is based on Patrick Henry Omlor’s pamphlet The ‘Unpersoning’ of Saint Philomena – in which he recounts the rise of devotion to St Philomena, as well as her fate at the hands of John XXIII. Unfortunately, this pamphlet is not available in the anthology The Robber Church – but is available from the Catholic Research Institute.

The discovery of St Philomena

On 24 May 1802, workers in the Catacomb of St. Priscilla in Rome uncovered a sealed shelf-tomb that had lain undisturbed for centuries. Three terracotta tiles, painted in enduring red lead, bore the fragmented Latin inscription:

LVMENA | PAX TE | CVM FI

… accompanied by unmistakable Christian symbols: a palm for martyrdom, a lily for virginity, an anchor, and arrows.

Beneath the tiles lay the remains of a young girl, no more than fourteen years old, her skull separated from the rest of the skeleton. A broken glass vessel containing dried blood rested nearby. When the blood fragments were placed in a crystal container, witnesses marvelled as they glittered like diamonds or precious metals — a phenomenon still reported in a 1959 booklet cited by Omlor.

Scholars suggested the tiles had been placed in the wrong order, possibly in haste or by hands unfamiliar with Latin. The correct order was likely:

PAX TE | CVM FI | LVMENA

(“Peace be with thee, Philomena”)

Archaeologists dated the tomb from anywhere before AD 160 to the reign of Diocletian in the early fourth century.

As Omlor notes, the Congregation of Indulgences and Relics had long held that a martyr’s tomb was identified, at least in part, by the presence of an ampulla of blood.

As such, the relics were sealed in a silk-lined case and placed in the Custodia Generale, where they remained for three years. They were categorised as being the relics of St Philomena, virgin (because of the lily) and martyr (because of the palm, and the ampulla).

Spread of devotion and of miracles

In 1805, Canon Francesco di Lucia of Mugnano del Cardinale, near Naples, obtained the relics and brought them to his parish church. Reports of cures began almost immediately — from bodily healings to conversions of hardened sinners.

The cult of Philomena spread swiftly through Italy, Europe, and missionary territories in Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Among the marvels recorded was the repeated liquefaction of her blood and the appearance of jewel-like formations within it, attested by the eyewitness testimony of Cardinals Ruffo Scilla and Victor Auguste Dechamps.

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[Joseph]

St. Philomena is a powerful intersessor so yes, the modernists whose master is Lucifer would want her gone.

[Michael]

Like all revolutions anything contrary to the movement had to be swept away.  Vatican II was a complete rupture of the Church and its tradition, so any strong reminder like a great saint who has helped so many souls had to be cast aside to usher in the new religion. 

Joseph said:

St. Philomena is a powerful intersessor so yes, the modernists whose master is Lucifer would want her gone.

[Flavia Talladen Schott]

St. Philomena, pray for us.