Picture: RealRome · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Saint Bibiana
Italian martyr and saint
SaintResearchedPre-congregation
Feast: 2 December (1962 Missal, III class) · not on the current Roman calendar
Born
348
Died
363
Beatified
—
not needed: before formal processes
Canonised
By tradition
recognised before formal processes began
Who they were
Bibiana was a Roman martyr. The earliest sure record is the Liber Pontificalis, which says that Pope Simplicius (468-483) consecrated a basilica of the holy martyr Bibiana containing her body, near the palatium Licinianum; the basilica still stands. Nothing else is known for certain; a later legend makes her the daughter of a prefect persecuted by Julian the Apostate.
The miracles
There was never a formal cause: Bibiana has been honoured as a martyr since at least the fifth century.
Why that counted as sanctity
Bibiana is honoured as a martyr of Rome whose church has kept her memory for fifteen centuries.
Connected on this site
- St. Demetria Saint Brother or sister
Sources
- Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), via New Advent - St. Bibiana
- Wikidata Q443392 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Bibiana of Rome (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.