Saint Augusta of Treviso, also known as ''Augusta of Ceneda'', ''Augusta of Tarvisium'', or ''Augusta of Serravalle'', is venerated as a virgin

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

Background

Her ''Acts'' were written in the 16th century by Minuccio Minucci di Serravalle, who was secretary to

Pope Clement VIII Pope Clement VIII ( la, Clemens VIII; it, Clemente VIII; 24 February 1536 – 3 March 1605), born Ippolito Aldobrandini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 2 February 1592 to his death in March 1605. Born ...

and Protonotary apostolic. According to her legendary ''Acts'', Augusta was the daughter of Matrucus, pagan chief of the Alemanni. Matrucus had conquered the

Friuli Friuli ( fur, Friûl, sl, Furlanija, german: Friaul) is an area of Northeast Italy with its own particular cultural and historical identity containing 1,000,000 Friulians. It comprises the major part of the autonomous region Friuli Venezia Giuli ...

ans, who had been Christianized, and ruled over them. Augusta converted to

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

secretly. Her father had sent spies to watch over her, and one day, when he discovered her praying, he imprisoned her, and then knocked out all of her teeth.

Sabine Baring-Gould Sabine Baring-Gould ( ; 28 January 1834 – 2 January 1924) of Lew Trenchard in Devon, England, was an Anglican priest, hagiographer, antiquarian, novelist, folk song collector and eclectic scholar. His bibliography consists of more than 1,2 ...

, ''The lives of the saints'', Volume 3 (J. Hodges, 1872), 483. Her enraged father then tortured and decapitated her with his sword at Serravalle, a district of the present-day

Vittorio Veneto Vittorio Veneto is a city and ''comune'' situated in the Province of Treviso, in the region of Veneto, Italy, in the northeast of Italy, between the Piave and the Livenza rivers, borders with the following municipalities: Alpago ( BL), Bellun ...

, around 100 AD. Some sources state that her death took place in the 5th century.

Veneration

De' Minucci's ''Acts'' were included in a volume entitled ''De probatis sanctorum historiis'', a hagiographic study by the 16th century German scholar

Laurentius Surius Laurentius Surius (translating to Lorenz Sauer; Lübeck, 1523 – Cologne, 23 May 1578) was a German Carthusian hagiographer and church historian. Biography Laurentius Surius was born in Lübeck in 1523, to a wealthy and respected family. His ...

(''Lorenz Sauer, Laurence Suhr, Lorenzo Surio''), and were published at

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

. Her name is listed in Ferrarius’ Catalogue of Saints, but not in the ''Roman Martyrology''. 1 August was the day in which the

translation Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transla ...

of her relics was celebrated, and 22 August the invention (discovery) of her relics, but the main feast day is 27 March. Augusta's relics are said to have been found a few years after her death on the hill called Santa Augusta after her, which overlooks Serravalle. A church dedicated to her was built in the 5th century.

Gallery

File:Serravalle di Vittorio Veneto - Santuario di Santa Augusta - Foto di Paolo Steffan.jpg, The hill where Augusta's relics are said to have been found.

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1st-century Christian martyrs 100 deaths Converts to Christianity from pagan religions Year of birth unknown