The members of St-Philomena society in St-Micheals Catholic church, Ikorodu West, Lagos all gathered on the 15th of January 2017 to commemorate and celebrate the birth/feast day of St.Philomena the wonder worker.

Born‎ January 10, 291 ‎ in Corfu, Greece ‎ and Died c. August 10, 304 (aged 14) ‎in Rome, Italy.
Venerated in some local calendars of theCatholic Church from 13 January 1837 until 14 February 1961‎
Canonized 1837 by Pope Gregory XVI
Major shrine Church of Our Lady of Grace inMugnano del Cardinale
Feast 11 August
Attributes Youth, palm of martyrdom, flower crown, orange or white robes, palm, arrows, anchor, sometimes a partially slit throat
Patronage Children, youth, babies, infants, priests, lost causes, sterility, virgins, Children of Mary, The Universal Living Rosary .


Saint Philomena was a young lady whose remains were discovered on May 24/25 1802 in the Catacombs of Priscilla. Three tiles enclosing the tomb bore an inscription (Pax Tecum Filumena) (i.e."Peace be to you, Philomena" that was taken to indicate that her name (in the Latin of the inscription) was Filumena, the English form of which is Philomena. Philomena is the patron saint of infants, babies, and youth.

The remains were removed to Mugnano del Cardinale in 1805 and became the focus of widespread devotion, with several miracles credited to the saint's intercession, including the healing of Venerable Pauline Jaricot in 1835, which received wide publicity. Saint John Vianney attributed to her intercession the extraordinary cures that others attributed to himself.

In 1833 a Neapolitan nun reported that in a vision Saint Philomena had revealed that she was a Greek princess martyred at 13 years of age by Diocletian, who was Roman Emperor from 284 to 305.

From 1837 to 1961 celebration of her liturgical feast was approved for some places, but was never included in the General Roman Calendar for universal use. The 1920 typical edition of the Roman Missal included a mention of her, under 11 August, in the section headed Missae pro aliquibus locis (Masses for some places), with an indication that the mass to be used in those places was one from the common of a virgin martyr, without any collect proper to the saint.
According to Sister Maria Luisa di Gesù, 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 St. 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.
St. Philomena remains a powerful intercessor against evil plans. St.Philomena devotees are also known to wear a special cord which imitates her and to also ward off evil plans.
Happy Birthday St. Philomena
"St Philomena Pray for us"
"Through St Philomena nothing is refused"

For more : http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=98
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