Saint of the Day – 16 December – Saint Albina of Caesarea (Died c250) Virgin Martyr

Saint of the Day – 16 December – Saint Albina of Caesarea (Died c250) Virgin Martyr.  Born in Caesarea, Palestine and died by beheading in c250, during the reign of the Emperor Decius, at Formia, Gaeta, Campagna, Italy. Also known as – Ulbina.

The Roman Martyrology reads today: “At Mola-di-Gaeta, in Campagna, St Albina, Virgin and Martyr, under the Emperor Decius.”

Albina was a young Christian girl who lived in the middle of the 2nd Century in Caesarea in Palestine. Because she would not give up her Christian faith, she was beheaded in c250 during the persecutions of Emperor Decius (249-251).

Legend has it that her body was placed on a boat which floated ashore near Formia at Gaeta in Campagna in southern Italy and that she was then transported to nearby Gaeta and buried there, next to Saint Erasmus. Albina’s Relics are venerated in Gaeta in the Cathedral

The learned Church Historian, Oratorian and Cardinal, the Venerable Cesare Baronius (1538-1607), included the story of her suffering in the Martyrologium Romanum when he revised it at the end of the 16th Century, based on “ancient documents of the Church of Gaeta.”