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| Victoria and Anatolia are portrayed amongst the mosaic Procession of Virgins in the Basilica of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna. |
Saint Victoria died in 250 A.D. and was a Roman Christian noblewoman. She and her sister, Saint Anatolia were forced into arranged marriages with two pagan noblemen. However, both saints wished to devote themselves to God and did not want to marry. When they refused, their suiters approached the authorities and denounced them as Christians. The Roman Emperor of the time, Decius, was persecuting Christians and the sisters were seized and put under house arrest. They tried to break the sister’s faith and coerce them to marry. The sisters did not weaken in faith and sold all their belongings and gave their money to the poor though they were still under house arrest. They converted to Christianity, both the servants and the guards who attended them. The two women were martyred for their faith, Anatolia first and then Victoria. Saint Victoria was stabbed through the heart which was what her rejected suitor, Eugenius requested.
