St. Philomena

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Whatever happened to St. Philomena? I know she was removed from the calendar (as was St. Christopher) but is she still a recognized saint?
 
St. Philomena is certainly still a Saint! It’s a shame this powerful intercessor was removed from the Calendar, although I think her Feast Day is still celebrated in many local calendars.
 
I’m not sure whether she *is *retained in local calendars like St. Christopher. In 1961, a decree was issued regarding local calendars. Chapter V, no. 33, after enumerating various feasts which were to be removed unless they possessed a special relation to the order or place, concludes abruptly:
Festum autem S. Philumenæ Virginis et Martyris (11 Augusti) quolibet calendario expungatur
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However, the feast of St. Philomena Virgin and Martyr (11 August) is to be expunged from all calendars.
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Of course, this was with local calendars at the time of the Traditional liturgical books. It may have been reintroduced later, but given the nature of the newer rules after 1970, I would have thought that’s a bit unlikely. She is also not listed in the martyrology. Having said that, Pope Paul VI refused to dismantle completely her shrine, so that’s a point in favour of continued devotion.
 
Somewhere I read that there is certainly a saint in her grave. However, there is some uncertainty as to her name.
 
jeff417 said:
Whatever happened to St. Philomena? I know she was removed from the calendar (as was St. Christopher) but is she still a recognized saint?
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Is she ever!!! I haven’t been around in months and today I happened to look and here’s a question about my dear friend, Philomena! She has given me (and my family) miracles. St. John Vianney declared that everything God did for him was through this wonderful saint. Tan Books has some great booklets on her life.

Considering the way she was martyred and why, she would be a perfect patroness for anyone trying to maintain purity. I wish everyone knew about her and called on her intercession.
 
I just now read about St. Philomena on Wiki.

Wow, I wonder why she was removed from the calendar?

Who took her place on the calendar?

Well anyways, she was/is a very good pure Saint.

Her good works of remaining a virgin would be good to know for all
(woman and men) nowadays. Especially for the young women.
 
When I was young I read her hagiography, and she became almost my favorite saint, I was very fond of her memory.

Now I am inclined to believe that she (as related in the accounts) never existed, but the idea she represents is great.
-]
Was she ever formally canonized?/-] Never mind, I see Wiki states that her veneration was authorized by Pope Gregory XVI, so I suppose that is as good as canonized.
 
nice2000 said:
I just now read about St. Philomena on Wiki.

Wow, I wonder why she was removed from the calendar?

Who took her place on the calendar?

Well anyways, she was/is a very good pure Saint.

Her good works of remaining a virgin would be good to know for all
(woman and men) nowadays. Especially for the young women.
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St. Philomena was not on the Universal Calendar as such. The Propers for the Mass and Divine Office for her feast were placed in the appendix titled “Pro Aliquibus Locis” (For Diverse Places) and it was required that the feast be conceded in order to celebrate it.
 
AJV said:
St. Philomena was not on the Universal Calendar as such. The Propers for the Mass and Divine Office for her feast were placed in the appendix titled “Pro Aliquibus Locis” and it was required that the feast be conceded in order to celebrate it.
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What in the world is “Pro Aliquibus Locis”?
 
nice2000 said:
I just now read about St. Philomena on Wiki.

Wow, I wonder why she was removed from the calendar?

Who took her place on the calendar?

Well anyways, she was/is a very good pure Saint.

Her good works of remaining a virgin would be good to know for all
(woman and men) nowadays. Especially for the young women.
Click to expand...
(Sorry, deleted instead of editing the post. This post is supposed ot come before the previous one)

St. Philomena was not on the Universal Calendar as such. The Propers for the Mass[from the Common] and Divine Office for her feast were placed in the appendix titled “Pro Aliquibus Locis” (For Diverse Places) and it was required that the feast be conceded in order to celebrate it.

“Pro Aliquibus Locis” refers to a section at the back of the missal which contained feasts of the mysteries in the life of Jesus and Mary, or of the saints that were not deemed to be granted universally but were granted to all who requested them. They were also of the most common feasts to be requested, thus the need ot print them in an appendix of their own. So for example, in the appendix were feasts such as the BVM, Help of Christians, or the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus or the Commemoration of all Holy Roman Pontiffs.
 
nice2000 said:
I just now read about St. Philomena on Wiki.

Wow, I wonder why she was removed from the calendar?

Who took her place on the calendar?

Well anyways, she was/is a very good pure Saint.

Her good works of remaining a virgin would be good to know for all
(woman and men) nowadays. Especially for the young women.
Click to expand...
(Sorry, deleted instead of editing the post. This post is supposed ot come before the previous one)

St. Philomena was not on the Universal Calendar as such. The Propers for the Mass* and Divine Office for her feast were placed in the appendix titled “Pro Aliquibus Locis” (For Diverse Places) and it was required that the feast be conceded in order to celebrate it.

“Pro Aliquibus Locis” refers to a section at the back of the missal which contained feasts of the mysteries in the life of Jesus and Mary, or of the saints that were not deemed to be granted universally but were granted to all who requested them. They were also of the most common feasts to be requested, thus the need ot print them in an appendix of their own. So for example, in the appendix were feasts such as the BVM, Help of Christians, or the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus or the Commemoration of all Holy Roman Pontiffs.
  • Which, to be nitpicklingly accurate was actually from the Common of a Virgin Martyr
 
Hesychios said:
. . .
Was she ever formally canonized?/-] Never mind, I see Wiki states that her veneration was authorized by Pope Gregory XVI, so I suppose that is as good as canonized.
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There was no formally canonization in the early days. The first formal canonization was St Ulrich in 993.
 
I want to say with regard to canonization or its equivalent, Pope St. Pius X said…

“…to discredit the present decisions and declarations concerning Saint Philomena as not being permanent, stable, valid and effective, necessary of obedience, and in full-effect for all eternity, proceeds from an element that is null and void and without merit or authority.” (1912)

I know her feast was removed but a feast is not what makes the saint. I believe that God wills who should be canonized and who should not be. God willed the exaltation of His dear Philomena who gave up her life for Him and deigned to grant so many favors that she has earned the titel of “wonderworker”.

I want to close with a quote from St. John Vianney, a great devotee of St. Philomena.

“My children, Saint Philomena has great power with God, and she has, moreover, a kind heart; let us pray to her with confidence. Her virginity and generosity in embracing her heroic martyrdom have rendered her so agreeable to God that He will never refuse her anything that she asks for us.”

St. Philomena DID LIVE ON EARTH and her bones rest in the shrine in Italy. Her blood is also there along with the tombstones which said her name. St. Philomena IS REAL and is in heaven and does intercede for us. She is just as real as well…St. Rita.
 
Joe_Kelley said:
There was no formally canonization in the early days. The first formal canonization was St Ulrich in 993.
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This I know, but she was unknown until the early 1800’s or so was she not?

I presume that the articles at the gravesite may have been taken as evidence that there was veneration of her soon after her (assumed) martyrdom. But as I understand it she was not on the calendar prior to the discovery and had been (essentially) completely forgotten, if she was ever venerated before. That is extraordinary in itself, because accounts of martyrdoms have a way of living through the culture they occur in. If anything they become more embellished with time, not forgotten.

Without anything else to go by, no cult of veneration, it cannot be assumed that the early church regarded her as a saint. It should thereby fall upon the modern Pope to do the honors, if he has enough evidence to go forward with it.

Wiki, that ever reliable font of information (I jest 😛 ) states that the accounts of her life and martyrdom are completely dependent upon dreams or visions some people had after the resting place was opened by some undisclosed persons. There are no contemporary accounts of her life and death whatever. No records anywhere.

There doesn’t seem to be any historical account whatever of the Emperor Diocletian sending any 13 year old girl to torture and death because she would not marry him.
 
St. Philomena is my absolute very best friend! Whatever your problem, fear, worry, concern—she will bring about a most wonderful outcome by her powerful intercession.

I lover very much!
 
I think someone may have mentioned this already, but St. John Vianney had a fervent devotion to St. Philomena. I am currently reading a short biography of St. John Vianney, and this is what is said about his relationship with St. Philomena:
No account of the life of the Cure of Ars would be complete without at least a passing mention of his singular devotion to St Philomena, the celebrated Virgin and Martyr of the early Church, whose tomb was found in the Roman catacombs at the beginning of the last century. Between the austere priest and the youthful Martyr there existed a friendship of extraordinary tenderness. Maybe there are across the centuries spiritual affinities between the Saints to which we have not the key. Be this as it may, the holy Cure looked upon St Philomena as his special guardian: his “agent with God,” as he used to say. He erected a chapel and a shrine in her honour when he undertook the restoration of the village church. This shrine may be seen to this day. In May, 1843, he fell so ill that the end seemed at hand. He promised to have a hundred Masses said at the Saint’s shrine. On May 12th, whilst the first of them was being said, he entered into a trance or ecstasy during which he was heard to murmur repeatedly: “Philomena!” Presently he exclaimed: “I am cured!” He attributed his recovery to St Philomena. There can be no doubt that he used the Saint as a kind of screen for his own humility, for he attributed to the Martyr the miracles he himself performed. In his wonderful single-mindedness he imagined that the world would be as simple as himself and would not see through this pretty device of his modesty.
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The very fact that such a great Saint had a devotion to St. Philomena is enough reason for us to remember St. Philomena in our prayers.
 
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