VIVIANA (Bibiana), Saint, Martyr. - The Passio relates that the Roman virgin B., together with her mother Dafrosa and her sister Demetria, was scourged to death under Julian the Apostate. This Passio, however, is a legend of the 6th century, by which it was probably intended to explain the presence of the three bodies found beneath her basilica. Only the notice in the Liber Pontificalis seems certain, according to which Pope Simplicius (468-73) had this basilica built over the tomb of the holy martyr; restored several times thereafter, it was rebuilt by Bernini in 1626. Preserved there is the beautiful statue of the Martyr, sculpted by the same author. Her feast falls on December 2.

Bibliography7 works

BIBL.: Liber Pontificalis, ed. L. Duchesne, I, Paris 1886, pp. 249-50; B. Mombritius, Sanctuarium, I, 2nd ed., ibid. 1910, p. 489; P. Franchi de' Cavalieri, Note agiografiche, fasc. IV (Studi e testi, 24), Rome 1912, p. 18, n. 1, and fasc. V (Studi e testi, 27) ibid. 1915, p. 56; E. Donckel, in Römische Quartalschrift, 43 (1935), pp. 23-33; id., in Rivista d'Archeologia Cristiana, 14 (1937), pp. 125-35; H. Delehaye, Etude sur le légendier romain, Brussels 1936, pp. 134-43; R. Krautheimer, Corpus Basilicarum christianarum Romae, fasc. II, Vatican City 1939, p. 94.

Cesario van Hulst

ICONOGRAPHY

This holy Roman virgin is rarely represented, so much so that her iconography may be said to consist of the famous statue by Bernini, located on the high altar of the church of the same name, erected in the 5th century, but entirely rebuilt by Bernini himself in 1625; near the entrance is preserved the column shaft against which the Martyr is said to have been scourged to death.

The Saint is depicted leaning against a column, a reminder of her martyrdom, and with the palm in her left hand. On the walls of the same church Pietro da Cortona (on the left) and Agostino Ciampelli (on the right) depicted the principal scenes of the legend.

Bibliography

BIBL.: K. Künste, Ikonographie der Heiligen, Friburgo in Br. 1926, p. 135. Kurt Raabe

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Viviana (Bibiana), Saint, Martyr

ICONOGRAPHY

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