St. Priscilla was widowed when her husband was martyred for converting to Christianity; she remained active in the Roman faith community and became an influential figure in the very early Church.

Her husband, Manius, was a Roman official, and her son, St. Pudens, was a Roman senator. Tradition holds that St. Peter converted and baptized the whole family. Both Manius and Pudens were martyred, but Priscilla continued to follow St. Peter, and gave him the use of her villa on the Via Salaria, which became the center of Peter’s work in the city.

On the site of that villa, a catacomb was constructed and used for Christian burials—many martyrs and seven popes were buried there, so it became known as the “queen of the catacombs.”

The catacombs of Priscilla contain some of the earliest Christian art. The first images of Mary are painted there, which show her nursing the infant Jesus (pictured here).

St. Priscilla died around the year 98, and her relics rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica. Her image is used here with permission from Catholic.org.

St. Priscilla, who was widowed when her family was martyred yet continued to support St. Peter’s work in Rome—pray for us!