Martyr Tatiana of Rome and those who suffered with her

Tatiana was born in Rome to a noble family; her Life says her father had been consul three times and was secretly a Christian. She chose not to marry and served the Roman Church as a deaconess. She suffered in the early 3rd century, under the young Emperor Alexander Severus, when, the Life says, his regents persecuted Christians.

Her Life tells of many tortures: the statue of Apollo fell when she prayed, a lion in the arena only lay at her feet, and her hair was cut off because her judges thought her strength lay in it. In the end she was beheaded, and her father with her. In Russia she is remembered especially by students: Moscow University was founded on her feast day in 1755, and "Tatiana's Day" is still the students' holiday.