31 March: Saint Balbina, martyr

Healed by the chains of Saint Peter

Not much is known about Saint Balbina, whose mortal remains rest in the Roman Basilica named after her and built in her honour in the fourth century, in the piccolo Aventino, in the neighbourhood of San Saba. According to the Passio Alexandri (fourth century) and the Passio Balbiniae et Hermetis, Balbina was the daughter of the tribune, Quirinus.

She was born in the second century. According to tradition, Pope Alexander had been arrested by order of Emperor Hadrian and kept prisoner in the home of the tribune, Quirinus. Balbina suffered from an illness in her throat and turned to the Pontiff for help. He told her to find the chains of Peter the Apostle and kiss them with devotion, after which she would be healed. The young woman found the chains, and after having done as Pope Alexander had instructed, she was healed. Faced with this miracle, Quirinus converted. Balbina and her father were baptized by Pope Alexander. Because she was the daughter of a tribune and was very wealthy, she received many wedding proposals, but she chose to follow Christ. When Balbina and Quirinus were discovered to be Christians, they were arrested, subjected to torture and then killed some time around 130 A.D.