The then-reigning Pope Gregory canonized Saint Philomena
in 1937 by granting public approval for the cultus of her veneration, based SOLELY on the overwhelming evidence of the power of her intercession (the private revelations had never even been received yet by the nun and the priest, which happened many years later, allegedly detailing some of the facts of her life).
What we do know is this:
In 1802, in the Christian Catacomb of Saint Priscilla,
workers disovered her tomb closed with three tiles which, when arranged according to modern custom, read:
PAXTE CUMFI LUMENA, or Pax Tecum Filumena.
When the tomb was opened, her body was found with a vial of dried blood placed next to her skull. As the dried blood was being poured into a glass holder, it began literally to turn in to rubies, diamonds, and gold pieces, ---- a phenomenon which regularly occurs right down to the present day.
Physicians called in to examine the tiny body determined that the
roughly 12 year old girl had been violently lanced to death by either a sword or a spear. This young Christian girl was clearly a martyr, not even considering the the symbols of martyrdom on her clay tomb tiles.
Now, a Professor named Marucci later claimed that because the tiles were in the wrong order, this meant that this was a re-used tomb and that the tiles had been scrambled on purpose to show that the girl inside was not “Fi Lumena” but someone else.
This RIDICULOUS theory, which is repeated by her detractors to this day, has been PROVEN FALSE over and over again.
First of all, these were clay tiles and any breaking them open and re-cementing them would have likely chipped and cracked the tiles, but the tiles were in pristine condition. Moreover, re-use of the tiles to cement a tomb would result in two layers of cementing on the tiles and tomb itself. Repeated examination of both proved conclusively that the tiles had only been cemented
ONCE and ONCE ONLY and to the very SAME tomb.
And why would a Christian family bury their daughter in a tomb with a name painted on the tiles which was NOT HERS? The very suggestion is vulgar as all get-out.
Saint Philomena is a fully-canonized Saint of the Church, which canonization is an exercise of the infallibility of the Pope and magisterium. It can NEVER be DE-canonized.
However, local liturgical practices using the Official Mass of St. Philomena were removed from the liturgical calendar. She can still be (and is) venerated by Masses in her honor, using the Common of the Martyrs. Her devotional center in Mugnano del Cardinale, Italy is fully operational with Vatican approval, and her Archconfraternity = an official Church Archconfraternity – is fully in operation today with Vatican full approval. I am a member of her Archconfraternity. For more information about her, and to obtain devotional items that are authentic, please contact
htttp://www.philomena.us or
philomena.it
You may also contact
www.myphilomena.com (or is it
www.myphilomena.org – do double check on that. Her authentically, authoritaritively blessed, official SACRAMENTAL holy oil is available from these above addresses for a donation of $5 per red bottle, to covert the cost of packing and shippiing.
God bless !!
Jaypeeto4
“St. Philomena, powerful with God, Pray for Us!!”
he is still cancer free. l