PHILOMENA, A POWERFUL PRINCESS IN HEAVEN
I was astounded by the reaction to my last column on St Philomena. I’d known St Philomena to be an awesome advocate, but after I shared my devotion to her with certain young friends of mine, they invited her intercession, and the results were staggering. Some of them are very young and had certainly never heard of her or prayed to her. But when they did, they suddenly recovered from illnesses, both physical and mental, and baffled the doctors. I prayed to St Philomena for someone who’d been far from the sacraments for some time and now they have made a sincere confession and they are going to the Latin Mass! Most especially a few pregnant women enjoyed Philomena’s grand help and had very easy labors.
So much so, that champagne corks were flying in the wake of Philomena’s intercession, and we joked that maybe champagne could be a symbol of Philomena’s amazing aid. There was, however, one persistent question asked about her. They were surprised that since Philomena was a princess, the daughter of a Greek king, why did she suffer so horribly under Emperor Diocletian? I mean, if she was a royal, did she not have special protection? For the daughter of a king, she was subject to several martyrdoms, and could her father not have used his regal influence to save her? Well, as it turns out, Philomena was not a powerful princess in this life, but she certainly is in Heaven.
So, this is the second in a two-part series about St Philomena, where I seek to give her life context, because in this pandemic, we need her more than ever! Philomena was born in modern day Corfu. Both her parents were royals. But here’s the kicker: It was the year 291 and Greece was under Roman rule.
For some years before Philomena was born, her parents had suffered the cross of infertility. They were pagans and they sacrificed to their false gods for the intention that they have a baby, but they remained childless. They were attended by Publius, a Roman doctor who led them to Christ and he even promised that they would have a baby if they became Christians. His words proved prophetic. Not long after they were baptized, they welcomed baby Philomena into their household, a name that means “Friend of the Light”. The royal couple doted on her and she was a daddy’s girl. When she was about to turn 13, a declaration of war was made on their island in the Ionian Sea, and her father decided to go to Rome and negotiate peace with Emperor Diocletian. He went with his wife and daughter, who was young but gloriously beautiful. When they had an audience with the thick-necked Diocletian, he heard the Greek king implore him not to make war, but Diocletian kept giving Philomena the eye.
After the Greek king had pleaded his case, Diocletian assured him that he would not start a conflict were he to get one caprice, “I will place the forces of the Empire at your disposal on condition that you give me the hand of your fair daughter Philomena in marriage”. This offer seemed sweet to Philomena’s parents, and they agreed ever so willingly. Then they tried to pressure their daughter into marrying the emperor, telling her that it would be a grand life, to be Empress of the world. They were not respectful of Philomena’s vow, made only 2 years before when Philomena had pledged to be the Divine King’s virginal spouse forever. There was also the fact that Diocletian was 59 years of age and was 46 years older than sweet Philomena. Philomena’s parents wanted her to enter a nasty, bigamous affair. At the time, Diocletian was married to Empress Prisca who was only 18, and she was doing her utmost to shield their little girl Valeria from the worst of her father's rages. Pretty Prisca had to keep her distance from her husband, who was the most powerful man on earth.
Truly, Diocletian was not gentle husband material. That said, Philomena’s parents were in quite a quandary and the fact that they were royal meant they were answerable to the many people back home in Corfu who did not want Emperor Diocletian to wage a bloody war on them. Perhaps they figured myriad lives could be saved if they offered Philomena to Diocletian. And there were other reasons, not just short-term, why it would have been politically advantageous for a Greek princess to marry the most powerful man in the world. Had Philomena “married” Diocletian, she may well have been able to lobby for Greece’s best interests well into the decades to come!
Philomena, however forfeited the life of privilege offered her, and when she spurned Diocletian’s advances, the pathologically possessive Emperor treated her to the most sadistic torture. First, Diocletian had her cast in a dungeon and bound in the heaviest chains, in the hope she would consent to be his bride. When she did not, Diocletian had Philomena tied to a pillar and scourged while the nastiest blasphemies filled the air. Afterwards, she was “one gaping wound” and Diocletian sent her back to prison to die.
The sadistic emperor did not count on angels from heaven coming to soothe her wounds while she languished in a prison cell with supernatural balm. And after the angels had delivered their graces in the form or a total-body facial on Philomena, Diocletian was even more stupefied to see her more beautiful than ever. When she rejected him again, he gave orders that an anchor be tied around her neck so as to drown her in the river. Angels, sent by Our Lord, cut the rope of the anchor and Philomena was seen on the bank, more gorgeous than ever.
The tyrannical emperor was enraged and ordered that she be pierced with arrows. The archers, however, when they trained their arrows on Philomena were dumbfounded because their arrows refused to leave their bows. The possessive emperor hinted that she was a witch and commanded that the arrows be treated in a furnace, that their fiery tips might soar through the air against any spell she had cast, but the arrows turned around and pierced the same archers who had intended them for Philomena. Finally, Diocletian had the object of his obsession decapitated and an axe fell on her neck, sundering her head from her body.
Philomena was martyred in the year 304. I beg you to consider that while she was not a powerful princess in this life, she certainly is in eternal life, and I ask you to entreat her intercession for you and your loved ones.
I invite you to get Doctor Mark Miravalle’s amazing work on Saint Philomena that makes a great introduction to her especially for teens and young people.
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I wrote this column for The Latin Mass Society magazine, Spring 2022 edition. You may read the entire magazine here.
Dear St Philomena! You have never been needed so much!
ReplyDeleteDearest Coo, I totally concur! Much love, Mary
DeleteMary,
ReplyDeleteFirst Happy Birthday!
Now as to our dear Philomena. As a Historian, I often thought, there has to be some evidence of her existence beyond what we have - the bones, the tomb, the dried blood and gravestone.
So here is what we can say.
1.) The grave is that of a virgin
2.) The grace is that of a martyr.
3.) After the persecution of Decius in 249-205, in whose reign St. Agatha was given the palm of martyrdom, there is the persecution of Valerian around 258. After that there are only sporadic cases of martyrdom. The next big persecution ("the Great Persecution") after Valerian is that of Diocletian under the influence of Galerius. It began February 23, 303 and lasted in Rome until October 28, 306, when Maxentius ended it as part of his work to seize the throne.
4.) Diocletian was only in Rome a very short time October 303 to December 20, 303. This was during the persecution.
5.) While in Rome, Diocletian held a Triumph for his victory over Persia. It is possible Philomena's parents knew Diocletian would be in Rome for the triumph.
6.) From the time of Augustus through Diocletian there were small client states throughout the Roman Empire, but all of them, at one time were subsumed by Rome. Part of Diocletian's reforms were to end the independence of these states and place them under direct control of the tetrarchs.
7.) Philomena's story is similar to Agatha, Cecilia, Susanna's and Agnes. Both Susanna and Agnes died under Diocletian. All of these stories involve serial killer style brutality to the daughters of Eve.
8.) Another thing to keep in mind, in the context of Philomena's bone is that here young age was the age girls were married at during those times. We may be shocked at the brutal judicial murder of a teenage girl, but the treatment and death of the better-known Agnes is confirmation of Philomena's story as she related it.
9.) The shooting of arrows is confirmed in the treatment of her contemporary, the Roman Officer Sebastian, who as we all know, was shot full of arrows, but healed by the grace of God, like Philomena.
Why was Philomena forgotten after the Great Persecution ended?
A.) She was not Roman, but a Greek from Corfu, and thus, in some sense, a foreigner.
B.) The records in Rome were likely destroyed, if not during the Great Persecution, but during one of the many sacks of Rome. Perhaps they were burned by somebody to keep warm or cook food.
C.) The same could be said of records from Corfu - and we should not be surprised - we actually know very little of people back then, or even of our ancestors from 200 years ago. Beyond my Great-Great Grandfather Peter McAuley, I know nothing.
D.) She was overshadowed by "hometown girls" such as Agnes.
E.) As a Greek, she died in a foreign County, so to speak, and so her people were in no position to retrieve her remains.
F.) Her parents, trying to keep their tiny island state free, may have been too embarrassed by Philomena's behavior to retrieve her remains.
Mary, I think the real reason she was forgotten was her parents. They sold their daughter out trying to keep their independence. After the miracle of her birth, you would expect her parents to stand up for her, but instead they were willing to throw her away as a sacrificial lamb.
When we read the tale of Philomena, you notice the lacunae as to what happened to her parents. When we think of this in the context of the poor girl being hauled off to be tortured, the devil certainly must have tempted her with thoughts of "You are so worthless, that your parents abandoned you . . . If you really loved your parents you would agree to this arrangement . . . If Jesus loves you as much as you think He does He would not abandon you to such a fate."
I will say now, "I love you Philomena - you deserve the title the "Bravest of the brave."
Thank you for this amazing historical commentary. A wonderful birthday gift!
DeleteSt. Philomena is INDEED a Wonder Worker! Here's my blog of her miraculous workings in my life! https://queenofpeacemedia.com/mother-mary-and-saint-philomena/
ReplyDeleteDear Brian, Thank you very, very much for sharing this wonderful and inspiring post with me and my readers. I am studying it intensely. God reward you for your devotion to the Princess.
DeleteI seem to remember one of the students in our elementary school had this name BUT she had to change it one year because the saint was no longer a saint and then later she took the name again because whatever the problem was, it was cleared up. This would be in late 1950's o early 1960's. Is that correct?
ReplyDeleteHi there, It is so sad to hear that you knew someone who, as you write, had to change her name from Philomena to something else. I'm so sorry you witnessed this degradation of a powerful wonder-worker like Philomena. Horrible confusion occurred in the middle of the last century when St Philomena was removed from all the Church calendars. Powerful men of the cloth instilled the idea in the faithful that St Philomena was not a Saint. But I, for one, rely on our greatest Saints and mystics to tell us that she is not just a Saint but the highest virgin-martyr. Padre Pio said so, and not only did Padre Pio assert that the Philomena is in fact a Saint but that the confusion as to whether or not she is one is the work of the devil. The Cure of Ars, St John Vianney was in regular contact with St Philomena and knew her face so well that he could tell which statue adequately represented her or not. I hope this helps. We need pray that St Philomena is restored to her rightful place in the hearts of all Catholics.
DeleteDear Mary,
ReplyDeleteYou may be interested in the book, Conversations with St. Philomena, by Janie Garza. In this book St. Philomena gives an account of her early life.
Unknown, I would like to say, I did follow up your suggestion and buy this book. It was a hefty price as it is out of print. However, it was worth every penny. Thank you for pointing this book out to me!
ReplyDeleteI have always believed in Philomena and the miracles she can accomplish. I have been praying to her and I hope she is hearing me but I am not sure. I hope I am doing things correctly.
ReplyDelete