SABINA (SAVINA), Saint. — In early Christian hagiography the Bollandists have noted three feast days: 30 January, S. of Lodi, a widow; 29 August, S. a widow and martyr of Vindena; 27 October, S. a martyr in Avila. Moreover, confusion between the masculine and feminine forms of the name has given rise to a sister of St Savinianus, celebrated on 29 January. A St S. appears in the mosaic procession of the martyrs of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna. In Rome the *titulus Sabinae* dates to its present form from the early 5th century, but the name and liturgical use of the building seem to predate the basilica.
In the *Regio XII* and probably near the basilica, the *Notitia regionum urbis Romae* records the presence of the *privata Hadriani*, from which a *domus Sabinae* may have originated. The identification of this person with a venerated martyr is documented in the history of the *titulus* by the lid of the sarcophagus in which Pope Eugenius II (823) gathered with his own bones those of the martyrs of Nomentum; the person mentioned there is known from a legendary *Passio* of the 6th century and forms part of the S.-Serafina group, the first commemorated on 29 August and the second on 29 July. The *Passio* presents Serafina as coming from Antioch (Syria), lodged by a S., widow of Valentinus, an *illustrissimus vir* and daughter of Herod surnamed Metallarius, who, under the reign of Vespasian (69–79), had given the Romans games three times. Both lived at Vindena. Serafina converted S., who was condemned to decapitation by the magistrate Berillus and suffered martyrdom on 29 July. S. herself, summoned before the prefect Elpidius, was condemned and beheaded on 29 August and buried by the Christians of Vindena “ad arcum Faustini in monumento ipsius ubi ipsa venerabiliter resposuerat magistram fidei suae virginem XII Serapiam.” The city of Vindena, now disappeared, was near Terni, probably at Rocca S. Zenone. The hypothesis of G. P. Kirsch, concerning a colony of Vindemati on the Aventine, lacks sufficient support in the textual criticism of the *Passio*. It is better to admit a translation of the bodies of Serafina and S. to Rome between the time of the construction of the basilica and the beginning of the 9th century.
Excavations carried out repeatedly, and especially during the restorations by A. Muñoz (1914–19 and 1936–39), have revealed: 1) the layout of a street which from the 2nd to the 11th century was one of the main roads of the Aventine and which borders the paleochristian constructions to the northwest; 2) the existence of a quadriporticus transverse to the longitudinal axis of the 5th-century basilica; 3) the presence of a 4th-century thermal building beneath the quadriporticus. The excavations of 1914, at the entrance to the central nave, revealed at 1.76 m below the present floor the existence of a large hall with a central podium; those of 1936–37 uncovered another part of the same hall of considerable size. The research, still partial, has not permitted the reconstruction of the complete plan of this building, which very probably already served Christian worship in the 4th century.
4) In the right nave, toward the apse, the 5th-century construction made use of a 4th-century wall with structural elements from the 2nd century. From 1936 to 1939 buildings intended for the cult of a divinity were uncovered, confirming the likelihood of the temple of Juno Regina.
The 5th-century basilica, with three naves, reproduces the perfect type of the Christian basilica; erected under the pontificate of Celestine I (422–32) through the munificence of Peter of Illyria, a member of the Roman clergy, it was probably completed under Sixtus III (432–40), as is shown by the dedicatory inscription of the basilica still preserved. Of the original decoration, much ruined, wooden panels of the wooden door remain, and inside, along the nave, the deco