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Saints

Trasilla and Emiliana
Saints; Trasilla and Emiliana
Died	6th century
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church
Feast	24 December (Trasilla); 5 January (Emiliana);

Trasilla (also called Tarsila, Tharsilla, Thrasilla^[1]^[2]) and Emiliana (also called Aemiliana, Emilie, Æmiliana^[1]^[3]) were aunts of Pope Gregory I and are venerated as virgin saints of the sixth century. They appear in the Roman Martyrology, Trasilla on 24 December, Emiliana on 5 January.^[4]^[2]

Life

Trasilla and Emiliana were sisters who came from an ancient Roman noble family, the gens Anicia. Their brother, Senator Gordian, was a rich patrician who owned "a magnificent villa on the Caelian Hill and large estates in Sicily",^[1] and who became the father of Pope Gregory I.^[4] They had another sister, Gordiana (also called Gordia), who was much younger.^[2] Their grandfather was Pope Felix III and Pope Agapetus I was probably an ancestor. Their mother, Silvia, was also a saint.^[1] Gregory wrote that his father had three sisters, who vowed themselves to God and lived a life of virginity, fasting, and prayer in their father's home on the Clivus Scauri in Rome. Even though they did not live in a monastery, they were consecrated and lived according to a rule. Gordiana eventually left to marry the manager of her estates,^[1]^[2]^[4] although Gregory said that she "went to perdition".^[5] According to hagiographer Agnes Dunbar, "[Trasilla] was so constant at her prayers that her knees became hard like those of a camel".^[2] Hagiographer Sabine Baring-Gould says that "with great satisfaction",^[5] the story was confirmed by Gregory.

Tradition states that "after many years of service",^[4] Felix III, appeared to Trasilla, showed her "a throne prepared for her",^[2] and ordered her to enter heaven; "seeing Jesus beckoning"^[4] and struck with a fever, she died on Christmas Eve. A few days later, Trasilla appeared to Emiliana, inviting her to celebrate Epiphany in heaven; she died the day before, on January 5.^[1]^[2]^[6]^[4] Most of what is known about their life, visions, and death are from Gregory, who spoke about them from his 38th homily on the Gospel of Matthew and his Dialogues.^[1]

According to tradition, their relics and those of their mother, Silvia, are in the Oratory of Saint Andrew on the Celian Hill.^[4]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g "Saints Tarsilla and Emiliana of Rome (d. ~550)". Den Katolske Kirke (in Norwegian). 28 November 2015. Retrieved 27 April 2024.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Dunbar, Agnes Baillie Cunninghame (1904). A Dictionary Of Saintly Women. Vol. 2. New York: George Bell and Sons. Retrieved 27 April 2024.
^ Baring-Gould, p. 272
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Mershman, Francis (1912). "Sts. Trasilla and Emiliana". The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved 27 April 2024.
^ ^a ^b Baring-Gould, p. 273
^ Baring-Gould, p. 272