PROCULA, CLAUDIA. — Name attributed to Pilate’s wife by an ancient tradition. She was probably of the gens Procula, belonging, according to Tacitus, to the equestrian order and descended from a collateral branch of the Claudii, who had lived in Gaul and had rendered themselves useful there. C. P. is in fact said to have been a native of Narbo.
The Gospel refers to her in Mt. 27:19: she asks her husband not to become involved in the trial of Jesus, since she had suffered greatly, in a dream, because of him.
A tradition dating back at least to the time of Origen calls her a proselyte to Judaism. The Greeks classify her among Jesus’ secret followers and venerate her as a saint (27 October).
BIBL.: M.-J. Ollivier, Ponce Pilate et les Ponts, in Revue biblique, 5 (1896), pp. 594–96. Fedele Pasquero