At the end of the first century, a child, thirteen to fifteen died in Rome. She was buried in the underground cemetery of Priscilla. By her side was placed a phial of her blood. Before her tomb were set three tablets of baked clay, on which were traced in red-lead the words:  PAX  TECUM  FILUMENA!

There were also painted three arrows, two anchors and an olive branch. The olive branch stood for the peace of the kingdom of God. The anchors meant that the dead child had found her way into the kingdom. The phial of blood was the symbol of martyrdom. The three arrows picture those which pierced the child. It is possible even that her name was not the name we find on the inscription. For Philomena means "dearly loved." So that it may merely express the feeling of her relations or of the friends who made ready her tomb.

There is no limit to the theories that may be woven about these relics. But, the fact is, this is all that is known of her. For seventeen hundred years, she slept unknown to men. She prayed for them in heaven, but they did not pray to her. Then several miles of underground tombs were swept clear - but not hers. Inviolate, inviolable: her earthly destiny might well have seemed to be over. God was keeping her in reserve. Yet seventeen hundred years, and the world blindly groping had need of her. Then God gave her the command to show herself to men.

In the year 1802, new explorations beneath the soil of Rome had resulted in the discovery of several martyrs burying places. Three years later a young priest of the diocese of Rome, Dom Francois de Lucia, accompanying his bishop to the Holy City, expressed a very strong desire to take back the body of a saint to his parish, which was proving difficult to convert. They offered him a choice among some nameless remains. But what is the use of a saint who has no name to which one may attach one's prayers?