(A.D. 132.)
[Usuardus, and Roman Martyrology. Authority:--The Acts of S. Alexander
Pope and M. (May 3rd); but these, as has been already stated, are not
trustworthy. There exists Acts which represent her as a Martyr, but
they are even more untrustworthy than those of S. Alexander.]
Saint Balbina was the daughter of S. Quirinus the Tribune, whose legend
has been given on March 30th. She was converted at the same time as her
father, and received baptism at the hands of S. Alexander. The legend
is as follows:--Quirinus said to his prisoner Alexander the Pope, "I
have a daughter whom I desire to see married, but she is scrofulous.
Cure her, and we will together believe in Christ." Then said Alexander,
"Go, go, and bring her into my dungeon, and take the prison collar from
my neck and lay it on her, and speedily she will be whole." Then the
father did as he was commanded, and brought Balbina to the Pope, and he
laid his collar about her neck, and then Alexander said to the father,
"Depart, I pray thee." So Quirinus went forth. And suddenly there
appeared a boy bearing a torch, and he went to the maiden and said, "Be
constant in thy virginity, O damsel, and receive perfect soundness of
body; and thou shalt see thy Bridegroom who for love of thee shed His
blood." And so saying he disappeared. Then the father, coming in, found
that she was healed of her infirmity, and himself was baptized and his
whole house.
Now after the martyrdom of S. Quirinus, she was seen by S. Alexander
often kissing the collar which had healed her. Then said he, "Cease
from kissing this collar, and seek rather to embrace the chains of S.
Peter." Then she had no rest till she had found those chains--how and
where she found them we are not told; and "she began with great fear to
kiss them eagerly, and to give praise to the King of Heaven." And these
chains she gave afterwards to S. Theodora, a devout woman, the sister
of S. Hermes the Prefect, and they are shown to this day at Rome in the
church of S. Peter "ad vincula."
In these fabulous acts it is impossible to say how much of truth lies
overgrown with legend. A church dedicated to S. Balbina certainly
existed in Rome in 590, when three priests of the church of that
dedication subscribed the acts of a council held in Rome.
Her body is preserved in this church, but other relics are said to be
in the Dominican church at Bologna.
There are other saints of the same name commemorated among the virgin
company of S. Ursula, and it is probably the head of one of these which
is preserved in Cologne, in the Franciscan church. In the church of
S. Pantaleon, in the same city, are the bones of S. Balbina--no doubt
she was one of the Ursuline band. But the cathedral of Cologne claims
to have the bones of the Roman S. Balbina. Another head was shown at
Millen, but it was removed to Siburg, and according to the popular
tradition Mass could not be said again on the altar from which the
relics had been removed, as the candles refused to burn; but as soon as
they were restored to their former position, no more difficulty was
experienced in getting the tapers to keep alight. In art S. Balbina
appears holding the chains of S. Peter, with the collar of S. Alexander
either about her neck or in her hand. She is invoked against scrofula.