Question about Saint Philomena: Was she beheaded?

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Tryingtobecatholic1

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If anyone knows her story then please do respond.

I have in the past two months become very devoted to Saint Philomena. I have prayed to her many times for intercession and she has helped me.

There is one thing that confuses me though.

According to her story she was decapitated which resulted in her death but the tomb that was found of her 1600 years after her death contained a body of a thirteen year old maiden (Saint Philomena was thirteen). The body apparently had a fractured skull but I never read any mention of the body being decapitated. Does anyone know more about this? I would really like to know if her body was fully intact when it was discovered.
 
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First of all, there are some questions as to whether the body found in her alleged grave was actually that of a Christian martyr, as some experts believe the body dated to after the end of the persecutions. So it might not be her body.

Second, the story of how she allegedly died was revealed only to a nun in a private revelation. Private revelations do not always contain the historical truth and may contain errors. In addition, Catholics are not required to believe private revelations. So it’s entirely possible St Philomena died in a different way, not by beheading.
 
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After our father found he could no longer support us by farming, because the ranch property we lived on got sold from underneath him, he applied for a steady, lucrative job in the new area we were moving to.

Our mother prayed to St. Philomena that Daddy would get the job. She told me that when one asks St. Philomena for help, one is supposed to make her a promise. So, our mother promised St.Philomena that if Daddy got the job, she would buy a statue of her.

Our daddy did get the job, and was very successful in it. Mama kept her promise and bought a statue of St. Philomena, which she kept on her bureau in our parents’ bedroom.

Now, I don’t know if the promise thing is true, but that was apparently what our mother was taught. So, she did it.

That’s how I became acquainted with St. Philomena.

This was in 1959-1960.
 
I remember reading a booklet about her some time ago. I can’t recall all the details, but i think they were transporting her body from one location to another, when suddenly the bier or coffin became too heavy to lift. The people carrying her had to set it down. This was near a church. They decided to try and take the coffin to the nearby church, and found they could lift it easily, so she has been revered in that church ever since.
 
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I used to have 2 different books on her but I loaned them out over a decade ago and they kept going around. One person who had read the books asked if they could give one to a person they knew whose name was Philomena - never got the books back in front of me. . .all to say that it has been a long time since I had an opportunity to re-read them.

The book by Fr. Paul O’Sullivan - St. Philomena The Wonder Worker is a wonderful read. (I actually had 2 copies of that one and everyone who picked up one of them couldn’t put it down until they finished it.) One of the versions I had said that St. Philomena appeared to three different people , that these three people had never met each other, yet the stories of St. Philomena’s martyrdom which had been revealed to them were practically identical. The principal person’s testimony which her story is usually based upon is that of Mother Maria Luisa di Gesù, a Dominican tertiary.

A really nice resource for St. Philomena online (in my limited opinion) is made available by todayscatholicworld . It’s in PDF form and looks to be translated from French and published by P. O’Shea, New York, 1865 - here’s the link : Life and Miracles of St. Philomena, Martyr.
We get to see the pages of an original book published in 1865 (with an approbation granted in 1834 - [p.9]) - therefore less chance of reading some misinterpretations online which can happen even when people have the best of intentions. When we don’t cite a reliable source , stories can become distorted with time. Just this morning (trying to look around on the net before posting this), I came across a site that said St. Philomena was “stabbed in the back of the neck.”

How they ever could have come up with that theory - not sure 🤨

(Note: This post was originally too long and continues just below in a second part)
 
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I’m no pathologist, but we can obtain a fairly clear idea using a bit of logic:

Generally speaking (might be missing a few details), the consistent version (provided through private revelation) in the accounts of St. Philomena’s martyrdom is that ultimately she was beheaded - after drowning weighed down with an anchor and a repeated attempt to kill her with a flurry of arrows were both miraculously thwarted. In that 1865 publication, it states that [p 41] after the attempted drowning, and flurry of arrows :
" He (the emperor) therefore hastened to terminate my days, by ordering my head to be cut off. Thus did my soul take flight toward my heavenly Spouse . . ."
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Now, what type of relics were actually found ?
Thankfully there are some excerpts of Father Paul O’Sullivan’s book St. Philomena The Wonder-Worker available online HERE.
According to Fr. O’Sullivan’s book -
Upon the opening of the tomb, the relics of a Virgin Martyr were found, with a glass vase containing a portion of her blood in a dried form. The bones, the ashes and the blood of the Saint were carefully placed in a wooden case, which was closed and sealed in three places. The skull was found to have been fractured. The bones were apparently those of a girl, and the doctors surmised that she was twelve or thirteen years of age. The relics have rested in the obscurity of the Catacomb of St. Priscilla for upwards 1700 years.
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So there is nothing conflicting with the account of beheading. Sorry for being a little graphic here but, miraculous blood excluded, there was no “soft tissue” (the connecting matter for the bones) found. It says “bones, ashes, blood,skull . . .found to have been fractured.”
The skull - found to have been fractured should lend more credibility to the account of her martyrdom , particularly if we were to consider the probable size of an executioner’s blade contrasted against the size of the martyr “a girl. . . twelve or thirteen years of age.”

We have had other threads on St. Philomena here at CAF - most of which I found to be edifying. On one of those threads, a fellow-member here had put it quite succinctly in a post:

“When we pray to St. Philomena, someone in Heaven answers.”

🙂
 
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@NeedImprovement

I actually read a bit of a book after posting this that was lent to me by a fellow parishioner.

The book is entitled Saint Philomena - Powerful with God

I remember reading that stated from the narratives of the three people who had Saint Philomena appear to her and the narratives state that she was pierced through the back of the neck with a lance. It further stated that the fractured skull that was found (there was no mention of it being or not being attached to the body) also contained fractured eye sockets which implied lancing as the method of execution. I should also note that a lance was found in her tomb.

As for another user @Tis_Bearself who posted about the body found in her tomb being dated back to the fourth century and the tiles being dated back to the second century.

I noticed that the book I was reading made no mention of the dating except for the tomb itself was dated based on the way it was built and they suspected anywhere from 160 AD to the time of Diocletian. The book was published in 1953 so the dating of the body and the tiles probably were done after its publishing minded that some sources arguably say that she was decanonised in 1962 but some sources don’t say that she was canonised at all.

If the dating was done after 1953 then it was most probably carbon dating (carbon dating was invented in 1940) especially if they were dating the body. Carbon dating itself doesn’t take into consideration limitations such as sunspot activity, fossil fuel burning ever since the first industrial revolution and nuclear testing ever since 1945 so from my stance I don’t regard it as a reliable means of dating archeological finds.

However, the PDF you posted of that book published in 1865 in which the narratives state that she was beheaded would seem more reliable as they are closer to the when the Saint Philomena revelations occurred. That was in the 1830s. But a lance still makes more sense to me as whether or not the body was attached to the head is a very important detail to support the story of Saint Philomena’s martyrdom. If they could detect a fractured skull and eye sockets (some sources contend that there was also evidence of arrow wounds) but made no mention of the head being or not being attached to the body then I would be inclined to think that her body and head were attached as this is an integral part of validating her story. If the head was attached to the body then why didn’t they discredit her story there and then? Why did they bother to go ahead with radiocarbon dating? Keeping in mind that radiocarbon dating is very expensive to do.
 
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Tryingtobecatholic1 said:
However, the PDF you posted of that book published in 1865 in which the narratives state that she was beheaded would seem more reliable as they are closer to the when the Saint Philomena revelations occurred.
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The narratives of St. Philomena’s death are all private revelation.

Private revelation is not necessary factually reliable. Even when approved, it can contain errors. The Church is never going to conclude on the basis of private revelation that something happened in a certain way. Catholics are not required to believe private revelation, ever, so there is no way the Church could endorse some private revelation as being definitely true.

So, getting rid of this private revelation because it’s immaterial, the next question is whether the body alleged to be St. Philomena’s actually dates to the time of the alleged Christian martyrdom. The Church also couldn’t definitely establish this.
 
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@Tis_Bearself

Fair point. But let me just map this out.

Three different people had never met each other and did not live locally to each other had a private revelation of Saint Philomena and their encounters were basically identical. I believe it was a dream that she appeared to the three of them. Psychology nowadays has never been able to find a rational explanation for various people all having an identical dream. However, I don’t want to go out of my depth here so I will still for now agree that a private revelation is not a valid fact.

But the tomb itself is strikingly similar to the narratives. The body found was to be around thirteen years of age before death. The anchor. The arrows. The lance. The palm of martyrdom. The lily of virginity that was also found. And the ampulla of blood which also suggested martyrdom (a study found it was perfume but there was another study done some time after this that refuted that).

The tomb was also plated with marble which suggested the burial was that of nobility and according to her story Philomena was of noble blood. It also has been architecturally dated back to anywhere between 160 AD to the time of Diocletian. The tiles that were found on the outside of the tomb “Lumena Pax Tecum Fi” which doesn’t translate to anything and can only be re-arranged to form “Pax Tecum Filumena” which translates to “Peace be with you, Filumena”.

The argument that there are no historical records of Philomena ever existing is a reasonable argument. However, a lot of martyrs during the Roman Era weren’t documented so it still doesn’t entirely discredit her existence.

As for the dating, I said that in my last comment and I really don’t want to have type all that out again.

I’m not trying to argue with anyone on this thread (I am the one who posted this question lol) I’m just exploring the striking similarity between her tomb and the private revelations that occurred to three different people who had never met each other.

My main confusion is if she was beheaded and not lanced despite a lance being found in her tomb. Then why would people believe her story as being factual since they mentioned the body had a fractured skull and eye sockets but are silent on whether or not the head was attached to the body. Why would they bother to even date the body if that were the case?
 
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I’m not trying to be a bother, but technically we’re not supposed to be discussing unapproved private revelations on the forum per the TOS.

If you want to say wow this is so interesting that three people have the same revelation, okay. But it’s not a definitive story nonetheless. It’s all pious legend. Including the fact that the body is even hers.
 
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Tryingtobecatholic1 said:
I should also note that a lance was found in her tomb.
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I don’t believe, according to accounts, that an actual lance was found in her tomb, but rather that an image (symbol) of a lance appears on the tiles, along with the images of 2 arrows, a lily, palm branch. I’m going to try to only post one more link pertaining to St. Philomena herself in a brief post following this one - out of respect for the leeway the mods have allowed up to to this point.

People with good intentions post things on the net sometimes that are incomplete. Most versions of the symbols on the 3 tiles found at the site of excavation say concerning the symbols “2 arrows” , but I read one this morning that said “3 arrows.” People trying to present a clear depiction, post images of the tiles online which aren’t the original images - rendering it even more difficult to determine exactly what the symbols on the original are.

This isn’t really something new. Artist’s renderings aren’t always 100% accurate. Take the crucifixion of Our Blessed Lord for example. I had become very used to seeing the image of Jesus crucified with only one nail transfixing the feet, until roughly 15 or 20 years ago, when I came across a very beautiful painting showing a nail in each foot of Christ crucified. On what I have been able to read, it is said that the stigmata of St. Francis of Assisi definitely showed marks or imprints for the head of a nail on each of his feet. And there is a quite compelling PDF on the internet now based on the Shroud of Turin positing that each foot of our Blessed Lord may have had a nail driven into it. I don’t believe that the debate has even been settled as to how many nails in the feet.

So the important thing for me - while the experts try to hash it out, is that Jesus definitely had a nail wound - a hole, in each foot.

Part of why things are the way they are pertaining to the Church’s treatment of St. Philomena’s is simply a case of timing. In contrast there are definitely more than a few pretty crazy stories about some of the early martyrs, who are declared “saints” which can sometimes, um, challenge our belief. The case of St. Quiteria comes to mind HERE and HERE.
And means of martyrdom wasn’t always that easy to discern from the remains either. Even our Blessed Lord Jesus Christ was pierced with a lance after He died , yet it was actually suffocation which killed victims of crucifixion.
 
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In the book THE ROMAN MARTYROLOGY - Gregory XIII , it is recounted
". . . At Dijon, St. Benignus, a priest, who was sent to France by blessed Plycarp to preach the Gospel. After he had been subjected to many grievous torments by the judge Terentius under the emperor Marcus Aurelius, he was finally condemned to have his neck struck with an iron bar and his body pierced with a lance. "
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So - in those Roman persecutions, it is a relatively safe assumption that in plenty of cases, according to history, much violence was done to the body of martyrs. In my limited opinion, “a badly fractured skull and fractured eye sockets” would seem consistent with that proposition . However it doesn’t precisely determine manner of death. And how often have we read that the more an eventual martyr’s death sentence was thwarted by God, the more vehement or intense became the desire to kill them ?
Vatican News say they are the " new information system of the Holy See " - founded June 27, 2015.
They have St. Philomena listed in their calendar, and one surmises due to her exceptional case, they appear to have also granted quite generous leeway - leaving enough to hold on to for whoever would choose to continue a private devotion to her. The link is HERE.
A snippet from what they say in relation to Padre Pio and St. Philomena:
Padre Pio said, “You can say that she was not called Philomena – but this saint has worked miracles, and it was not the name that did them!
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”
 
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