PRAXEDES, Saint. - She is commemorated in the Hieronymian Martyrology on July 21; the Itineraries of the 7th century record her buried in the cemetery of Priscilla on the Via Salaria Nuova.
According to the legendary Passio of the 5th century, P. was the daughter of Pudens (v.) and the sister of Pudentiana (v.). Having passed to a better life, the presbyter Pastor, the author of the work, arranged her burial in the cemetery of Priscilla beside her father and her sister. The author's purpose is evident: to illustrate the origins of the two Roman titles of P. and of Pudens or Pudentiana, confusing persons and things.
On the origin of the "titulus Praxedis" there is no certain information; it already existed in the 5th century: the Roman Synod of 499 and an inscription of 489 in the cemetery of St. Hippolytus on the Via Tiburtina attest to it. In the 6th century, the foundress, according to custom, is called St. P. The linking of P., Pudens and Pudentiana undoubtedly originated from the fact that the cemetery of St. Hippolytus depended on the two titles and perhaps also from the fact of their proximity. The church of St. Praxedes, already restored by Hadrian I (772-95), was completely rebuilt by Paschal I (817-24), though "in alio non longe demutans loco." The new construction, despite the various later works, still preserves the structure of the 9th century; it was enriched with many bodies of martyrs, among them that of Zeno taken from the cemetery of Praetextatus. In his honor a separate oratory was built, adorned with rich mosaics that represent the most distinguished and characteristic work of Rome in that period. Other mosaics were executed in the apse and on the triumphal arch, representing respectively the Redeemer with saints and the heavenly Jerusalem.
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Agostino Amore