Saints Justa and Rufina (Ruffina) ( es, Santa Justa y Santa Rufina) are venerated as
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 ...
s. They are said to have been martyred at
Hispalis
Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula. ...
(
Seville
Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...
) during the 3rd century.
Only St. Justa (sometimes "Justus" in early manuscripts) is mentioned in the ''
Martyrologium Hieronymianum
The ''Martyrologium Hieronymianum'' (meaning "martyrology of Jerome") or ''Martyrologium sancti Hieronymi'' (meaning "martyrology of Saint Jerome") is an ancient martyrology or list of Christian martyrs in calendar order, one of the most used a ...
'' (93), but in the historical martyrologies. Rufina is also mentioned, following the legendary ''Acts''.
[Kirsch, Johann Peter. "Sts. Rufina." The Catholic Encyclopedia]
Vol. 13. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 28 October 2021 The two saints are highly honored in the
Mozarabic Liturgy.
Legend
Their legend states that they were sisters and natives of Seville who are said to have lived in the neighborhood of
Triana. Justa was born in 268 AD, Rufina in 270 AD, of a poor but pious Christian family. They made fine
earthenware pottery
Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and ...
for a living, with which they supported themselves and helped many of the city's poor. Like many other merchants, they sold their pottery from booths set up out of doors where people could see their wares. During a
pagan festival, they refused to sell their wares for use in these celebrations. In anger, locals broke all of their dishes and pots. Justa and Rufina retaliated by smashing an image of
Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never f ...
. They were immediately arrested.
[
The city's prefect, Diogenianus, ordered them to be imprisoned. Failing to convince them to renounce their faith, he had them ]tortured
Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts carr ...
on the rack
Rack or racks may refer to:
Storage and installation
* Amp rack, short for amplifier rack, a piece of furniture in which amplifiers are mounted
* Bicycle rack, a frame for storing bicycles when not in use
* Bustle rack, a type of storage bi ...
and with iron hooks.
They were then forced to walk barefoot to the Sierra Morena
The Sierra Morena is one of the main systems of mountain ranges in Spain. It stretches for 450 kilometres from east to west across the south of the Iberian Peninsula, forming the southern border of the ''Meseta Central'' plateau and providi ...
; when this did not break their resolve, they were imprisoned without water or food. Justa died first. Her body, thrown into a well, was later recovered by the Bishop Sabinus. Diogenianus believed that the death of Justa would break the resolve of Rufina. Rufina refused to renounce her faith and was thus thrown to the lions. However the lions in the amphitheatre
An amphitheatre (British English) or amphitheater (American English; both ) is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports. The term derives from the ancient Greek ('), from ('), meaning "on both sides" or "around" and ...
refused to attack Rufina, remaining as docile as house cats. Infuriated, Diogenianus had Rufina's neck broken and her body burned. Her remains were recovered by Sabinus and buried alongside her sister.[
]
Veneration
Their cult in Seville was ancient and strong, and soon spread elsewhere in Spain.
La Seo Cathedral
The Cathedral of the Savior ( es, Catedral del Salvador) or La Seo de Zaragoza is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Zaragoza, in Aragon, Spain. It is part of the World Heritage Site ''Mudéjar Architecture of Aragon''.
The cathedral is located on th ...
(Zaragoza
Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributari ...
) contains a chapel
A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...
dedicated to Justa and Rufina. Agost
Agost () is a Valencian town and municipality located in the province of Alicante, Spain, at a distance of about from Alicante, the capital of the province. Due to its relative distance from the Mediterranean Sea, Agost was not directly affected ...
, in Valencia province
Valencia ( ca-valencia, València) is a province of Spain, in the central part of the autonomous Valencian Community. Of the province's over 2.5 million people (2018), one-third live in the capital, Valencia, which is also the capital of the au ...
, is the location of a hermitage dedicated to these saints (''Ermita de Santa Justa y Rufina''), built in 1821. Toledo also has a church dedicated to them.
There is a shrine to the saints in Alicante
Alicante ( ca-valencia, Alacant) is a city and municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean port. The population of the city was 337,482 , the second-largest in t ...
where a three-day fiesta is held in their honor in July.
Patronage
Justa and Rufina are the patron saints of the cities SevilleOrihuela
Orihuela (; ca-valencia, Oriola ) is a city and municipality located at the feet of the Sierra de Orihuela mountains in the province of Alicante, Spain. The city of Orihuela had a population of 33,943 inhabitants at the beginning of 2013. The mu ...
, where there is a parish Church of Saints Justa and Rufina built on the site of a Visigoth church that was later used as a mosque. They are also the patrons of potters.Giralda
The Giralda ( es, La Giralda ) is the bell tower of Seville Cathedral in Seville, Spain. It was built as the minaret for the Great Mosque of Seville in al-Andalus, Moorish Spain, during the reign of the Almohad dynasty, with a Renaissance-style ...
and the Cathedral of Seville
The Cathedral of Saint Mary of the See ( es, Catedral de Santa María de la Sede), better known as Seville Cathedral, is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Seville, Andalusia, Spain. It was registered in 1987 by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, along ...
, and are said to have protected both during the Lisbon earthquake of 1755
The 1755 Lisbon earthquake, also known as the Great Lisbon earthquake, impacted Portugal, the Iberian Peninsula, and Northwest Africa on the morning of Saturday, 1 November, Feast of All Saints, at around 09:40 local time. In combination with ...
.
Feast day
Their feast day is 19 July.[ During the Middle Ages their feast was celebrated in the Iberian Peninsula on 17 July, as attested by calendars of the time, such as for example by that in the Antiphonary of León.
]
Iconography
They are often depicted as young women with their heads uncovered (indicating their status as unmarried), with clay pots, palms (representing martyrdom), and a lion licking Rufina's bare foot.[ As patrons of Seville, they are often pictured flanking the "Giralda".]
In art
Justa and Rufina were a popular subject for Spanish artists.
A 1540 retable
A retable is a structure or element placed either on or immediately behind and above the altar or communion table of a church. At the minimum it may be a simple shelf for candles behind an altar, but it can also be a large and elaborate structur ...
is the earliest known piece of artwork depicting these two saints. A painting of the saints was done by Francisco Camilo
Francisco Camilo (Madrid 1610–Madrid 1671) was a Spanish painter, the son of an Italian immigrant who had settled in Madrid. When his father died, his mother remarried, and Camilo became the stepson of the painter Pedro de las Cuevas.William ...
in 1644. Goya
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 174616 April 1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His paintings, drawings, and e ...
,[ Murillo, and Zurbarán also painted these saints.
A 1989 painting is a modern interpretation of these saints.]
References
External links
Altar of SS. Justa and Rufina in the Cathedral of Seville
{{authority control
Ante-Nicene Christian female saints
History of Seville
Sibling duos
Spanish potters
3rd-century Christian martyrs
Groups of Christian martyrs of the Roman era
Saints from Hispania
268 births
270 births
287 deaths