1st–3rd century
Saint Petronilla
A Roman Christian who refused marriage to a nobleman to devote herself to Christ, and was martyred for it.
Biography
Petronilla came from a noble Roman family and lived possibly in the first or the third century. She was a Christian and refused to marry a nobleman named Flaccus, wishing to devote herself entirely to Christ, for which she was arrested and martyred.
Her martyrdom is depicted in a fourth-century fresco in the Catacombs of Domitilla in Rome, one of the oldest surviving images of a female martyr saint.