A good article on Saint Philomena can be found at this link.
Another article from the Catholic Encyclopedia can be found at this link.
The best website for information on Saint Philomena is Wikipedia. This tells us that remains of the previously unknown saint remains were found in the Catacombs of Priscilla in 1802, and from her age, around 13 years old, it was also assumed that she was a virgin. An Latin inscription on three tiles, that closed the hollow in which the bones lay, has been read as meaning "Peace with you, Philomena," from her name was deduced.
Sister Maria Luisa di Gesù later reported that she received revelations from Philomena about her former life. Saint Philomena told her she was the daughter of a king in Greece who, with his wife, had converted to Christianity. At the age of about 13 she took a vow of consecrated virginity. When the Emperor Diocletian threatened to make war on her father, her father went with his family to Rome to ask for peace. The Emperor fell in love with the young Philomena and, when she refused to be his wife, subjected her to a series of torments: scourging, from whose effects two angels cured her; drowning with an anchor attached to her (two angels cut the rope and raised her to the river bank); being shot with arrows, (on the first occasion her wounds were healed; on the second, the arrows turned aside; and on the third, they returned and killed six of the archers, after which, several of the others became Christians). Finally the Emperor had her decapitated. The story goes that the decapitation occurred on a Friday at three in the afternoon, as with the death of Jesus. The two anchors, three arrows, the palm and the ivy leaf on the tiles found in the tomb were interpreted as symbols of her martyrdom.
In 1827, Pope Leo XII gave to the church in Mugnano del Cardinale the three inscribed terra cotta slabs that had been taken from the tomb. Canon De Lucia recounted that wonders accompanied the arrival of the relics in his church, among them a statue that sweated some liquid continuously for three days. A miracle accepted as proved in the same year was the multiplication of the bone dust of the saint, which provided for hundreds of reliquaries taken [and perhaps sold] without the original amount experiencing any decrease in quantity.
On August 10, 1835, Pauline received a miraculous cure of a severe heart ailment at Saint Philomena's shrine in Mugnano del Cardinale during the Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. Immediately following, she appealed to Pope Gregory XVI to begin an examination for the beatification of Philomena. And on Jan. 13, 1837, the pope named St. Philomena Patroness of the Living Rosary, and declared her to be the "Thaumaturga," the "Great Wonder-Worker of the nineteenth century."
The Wikipedia article concludes by telling us that doubts about St. Philomena began in the twentieth century. It was discovered that the inscription on the three tiles that had provided the Latin name Filumena (Philomena, in English) belonged to the middle or second half of the second century, while the body that had been found was of the fourth century. The three tiles that provided her name and the images around which a tale of martyrdom had been woven, had no relation to the person whose remains were found. In 1961, Pope Gregory XVI's 1837 authorisation of liturgical veneration of Saint Philomena in a limited number of places was withdrawn. We are left to understand that there was no Saint Philomena, although Wikipedia quotes the Italian-language Enciclopedia dei Santi to say that "there still remain the miracles that occurred and the official recognition that the Church gave in the nineteenth century, the personal devotion to Saint Philomena of popes and people who were later canonized, and the widespread general devotion that still persists, particularly at Mugnano del Cardinale in the Diocese of Nola, where pilgrims from all over the world arrive continually, giving a display of intense popular devotion."
Saint Philomena School was created in 1953.
August 11 is the feast day of Saint Philomena.
Click on the Patron Saints Index link for all the information you need about these three martyrs.
Philomena died on/about August 10, 304, at the approximate age of 13 in Rome, Italy.
All we know is that Philomena died as a martyr but we have no definitive answer as to how she died. What little is known about Philomena comes to us through personal revelation which can not be factually proven.
We know little factual information about Philomena and most of what we do know is from personal revelation. Supposedly, Philomena was from a Greek colony but was taken to Rome by her parents when she was about 13 years of age. The Roman Emperor Diocletian wanted to marry her but she refused, saying she was a virgin for Our Lord only. Diocletian had her martyred for her decision.
Philomena is a legendary saint about whom very little is known and most of that through personal revelation which carries little weight with the Church. Nothing is known about her parents.
St. Philomena is the patron saint of:against barrennessagainst bodily illsagainst infertilityagainst mental illnessagainst sicknessagainst sterilitybabieschildrenChildren of Marydesperate causesforgotten causesimpossible causesinfantslost causesLiving Rosarynewbornsorphanspoor peoplepriestsprisonerssick peoplestudentstest takerstoddlersyoung peopleyouth
Saint Philomena and St. Maria Goretti are female patron saints of children.
In 1802 the remains of a young woman were found in the catacomb of Saint Priscilla on the Via Salaria, Rome, Italy. It was covered by stones, the symbols on which indicated that the body was a martyr named Saint Philomena. The bones were exhumed, cataloged, and effectively forgotten since there was so little known about the person. In 1805 Canon Francis de Lucia of Mugnano, Italy was in the Treasury of the Rare Collection of Christian Antiquity (Treasury of Relics) in the Vatican. When he reached the relics of Saint Philomena he was suddenly struck with a spiritual joy, and requested that he be allowed to enshrine them in a chapel in Mugnano. Little is known of her life, and the information we have was received by private revelation from her. Philomena was martyred at about age 14 in the early days of the Church.
Yes and no. Officially, Saint Philomena is not recognized as a saint by the Universal Church and only is approved for veneration in Mungano Italy. She is not listed on the official calendar of saints. However, there are people all over the world who love this young martyred virgin, saint or not.
Because she was a young girl who sacrificed her own life for Christ Our Lord.