Decimomannu
Decimomannu ( sc, Deximumannu or ) is a comune in the Metropolitan City of Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy. It is located about northwest of central Cagliari and had a population of about 8,115 .
Geography
Decimomannu borders the municipalities of ...
) was a Christian woman who lived on
Sardinia
Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...
. According to tradition she was
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 ...
ed during the
Diocletianic Persecution
The Diocletianic or Great Persecution was the last and most severe persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire. In 303, the emperors Diocletian, Maximian, Galerius, and Constantius issued a series of edicts rescinding Christians' legal rights ...
. She is venerated as a saint by the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
.
History
Tradition holds that the saint was a Christian living in Decimomannu in the 3rd and 4th centuries who was imprisoned and whipped. She was then tortured by having three nails hammered into her head to try to force her to recant her faith, before finally being beheaded in 304.
Though there are no sources attesting to her martyrdom's historicity, the cult around saint Greca the martyr dates back at least to the 14th century, when she is mentioned in several documents, especially those referring to the convent at Decimo, which was attached to the church of Santa Greca. That monastery dated back to the 9th century - a coffin for a nun named Greca from that era has been found in Fangariu Cagliari. A document of 1413 relating to the appointment of an
abbess
An abbess (Latin: ''abbatissa''), also known as a mother superior, is the female superior of a community of Catholic nuns in an abbey.
Description
In the Catholic Church (both the Latin Church and Eastern Catholic), Eastern Orthodox, Coptic ...
refers to the "monastery and church of saint Greca, martyr, in the town of Decimo" - this is the earliest reference to saint Greca as a martyr. The present church was rebuilt in the 18th century but still includes the 11th century semi-circular apse reusing proto-Roman building material.
In 1618 an inscribed tombstone from the 4th or 5th century was rediscovered, rediscovered in Decimomannu near the ancient church of Santa Greca in 1560.Ottorino Pietro Alberti Speech on the occasion of proclamation of the sainthood of Saint Greca on ''santiebeati.it'' It records a woman called Greca aged 20 years, 2 months and nineteen days and that she was buried on 21 January. Based on these dates and assuming 304 was the year she died, her birthdate has been hypothesized as 12 October 284. The inscription also bears the Christ monogram and precedes Greca's name with ''B. M.'', the Latin abbreviation for ''Beatae memoriae'' (of blessed memory) or ''Bene merenti'' (well worthy), rather than as previously thought ''Beata Martyr'' (blessed martyr)
Ottorino Pietro Alberti
Ottorino Pietro Alberti (17 December 1927 – 17 July 2012) was an Italian Roman Catholic archbishop who served as Archbishop of Cagliari from 1987 to 2003.
Biography
Alberti was born into a prominent Family in Nuoro in Sardinia. He firs ...
archbishop of Cagliari
The Archdiocese of Cagliari ( la, Archidioecesis Calaritana) is a Roman Catholic archdiocese centred on the city of Cagliari. It holds the Primacy of Sardinia.Cagliari Cathedral and the other half remaining at Decimo. At the request of the Sacred Congregation of Rites the feast of saint Greca was removed from the diocese's calendar in 1882, only for the Congregation to re-insert it the following year among feasts honoured by local cults. By a decree dated 31 May 2016, Arrigo Miglio, Metropolitan Archbishop of Cagliari, made the church of Santa Greca into a diocesan sanctuary under the title of "Sanctuary of Saint Greca Virgin and Martyr of Decimomannu". On 22 September the same year a
Holy Door
A Holy Door ( la, Porta Sancta) is traditionally an entrance portal located within the Papal major basilicas in Rome. The doors are normally sealed by mortar and cement from the inside so that they cannot be opened. They are ceremoniously open ...
was opened at the church and it remained open throughout the festivities around Greca's saint's day.