PRISCA, saint. - In Rome, in the 7th century, a martyr P. was commemorated on 18 January, also mentioned in the Gregorian Sacramentary. The Itineraries of the same century recall her as buried in the cemetery of Priscilla on the Via Salaria nuova. In some codices of the Hieronymian Martyrology, however, on the same date a Priscilla is commemorated as buried on the same Via Salaria, who is probably the eponym of that cemetery.
The Passio, probably dating from the 8th century, is merely a reworking of that of Taziana and, like it, legendary. In Rome there already existed in the 5th century a «titulus Priscae», mentioned in an inscription and at the Synod of 499; in the 6th century, as in similar cases, it is called «sanctae Priscae»; in the 8th century the foundress was identified with P., the wife of Aquila mentioned by s. Paolo (Rom. 16, 3; I Cor. 16, 19) and the Acts of the Apostles (18, 2; 18). The titulus was therefore connected with s. Pietro himself. Recent excavations showed that it was built over a mithraeum.