Venerable-Martyr 4th century

Virgin Martyrs Archelais Thekla, and Susanna at Salerno

d. c. 293 (martyred under Diocletian)

Also known as Archelais · Thekla · Susanna

Three consecrated virgins who fled a convent near Rome during the persecution of Diocletian, and being seized at Salerno endured torments and were beheaded for Christ.

Feast Day

June 6

Draft

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Life

Archelais, Thekla, and Susanna were three consecrated virgins who, by tradition, sought salvation in a small monastery near Rome during the late third century. When the persecution of the Emperor Diocletian (284-305) reached Italy, they disguised themselves in men's clothing and cut their hair, leaving Rome for the province of Campania in the south.

Settling in a remote area, the three are said to have maintained a rigorous ascetic life of fasting and prayer, and by tradition were granted gifts of healing through which they ministered to the local people and drew many pagans to the Christian faith. Summoned before the provincial governor at Salerno and ordered to sacrifice to idols, they refused, endured torments, and were beheaded for Christ, by tradition in the year 293.

Pre-schism Western martyrs of the Campanian coast, they are commemorated together as a single group on June 6 in the Orthodox calendar.

Timeline 4 moments Read Hide

284-305 Persecution of Diocletian The reign of Diocletian saw the most severe of the imperial persecutions, beginning in earnest with the first edict of 24 February 303 and a later edict requiring universal sacrifice to the pagan gods. In Italy, which fell under the co-emperor Maximian, the persecution was firmly enforced, providing the setting in which the three virgins fled Rome.
During the persecution Flight to Campania By tradition the virgins disguised themselves in men's clothing, cut their hair, and travelled south from their monastery near Rome to the province of Campania, where they settled in a remote place and continued a life of fasting and prayer.
At Salerno Trial and torments Summoned by the provincial governor to Salerno, the saints refused to sacrifice to idols. The synaxarion relates that lions loosed upon Archelais lay meekly at her feet, that she was tortured and a stone meant to crush her was turned aside, and that the three encouraged the hesitant executioners.
c. 293 Martyrdom The three virgins were beheaded for their confession of Christ, by tradition in the year 293.

Contributions & Legacy

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Historical Context

By the third and fourth centuries Campania was a well-established Roman province closely tied to Rome, part of the Augustan administrative region of Latium et Campania, valued for its fertile countryside. Christianity had taken root there during the Roman period, and the region produced several martyrs, making it a center of early Christian activity and of persecution under Diocletian. Salerno, the ancient Salernum, was a prominent coastal city of the region.

The Diocletianic persecution, the last and most severe imperial campaign against the Church, mandated that all persons sacrifice to the pagan gods. In Italy it was enforced under the co-emperor Maximian until his abdication in 305, after which enforcement weakened. This is the setting in which Christian communities, including monastics, fled or disguised themselves, as the tradition records of Archelais, Thekla, and Susanna.

Miracles & Traditions

Historically Documented: The saints are known through their entry in the Orthodox synaxarion; no independent contemporary documentation of the events of their lives is preserved.

Traditional Accounts: The synaxarion relates that when the governor ordered lions to attack Archelais, the beasts lay meekly at her feet; that under torture her body was raked with metal implements and heated tar poured on her wounds; and that when a great stone was brought to crush her, an angel turned it aside so that it fell instead upon the torturers. By a much later tradition, Susanna is said to have appeared in the nineteenth century to a disciple of the Elder Boniface, offering counsel on wholehearted prayer.

Notes

Named group; pre-schism Western saints.

Sources: OCA Synaxarion (oca.org), Lives of the Saints