Saint of the Day – 31 March – St Balbina (Died c130) Virgin and Martyr of Rome. Patronage – against Throat Diseases, goitor diseases. Also known as – Balbina the Virgin, Balbine .
The Roman Martyrology reads today: “At RFome, the holy virgin Balbina, daughter of the blessed Martyr Quirinus, who was Baptised by Pope St Alexander and after overcoming the world, was buried on the Appian Road at ther father’s side.”
Tradition tells us that Balbina was a Virgin Martyr found guilty of being a Christian and sentenced to death by Hadrian.
The legendary life of Balbina has come down to us through two Passios: the first is a passio St Alexandri, perhaps from the 6th Century which confuses Pope Alexander with the same-named Martyr from Nomentana. The second is a Vita of Sts Balbina and Hermetis, an appendix to the Passio Alexandri.
According to these two Vitae, Balbina was the daughter of the Martyr Quirinus, who, having converted to the Christian faith, was Baptised. with his daughter by Pope Alexander. When Balbina became seriously ill, her father took her to the Pope, who was then imprisoned and he cured her – this illness must relate to her Patronages.
Because of her wealth and nobility, many young men wished to marry her but she wished to consecrate herself to God. Arrested together with her father by order of the Emperor Hadrian (117-135), after many torments, she was beheaded.
A Titulus Church was founded on the Aventine Hill in Rome which preserved her name for veneration. Her date is “ante 595” since that is the earliest documented reference to her Church.
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