SHE was a native of Rusuccur in Mauritania, and courageously despising
all worldly advantages, to secure to herself the possession of the
precious jewel of heavenly grace, she was called to the trial in the
persecution of Dioclesian, which was continued in Africa under his
successors, till the death of Severus, who was declared Caesar in 305,
and slain in 309. St. Marciana was beaten with clubs, and her chastity
exposed to the rude attempts of pagan gladiators, in which danger God
miraculously preserved her, and she became the happy instrument of the
conversion of one of them to the faith: at length she was torn in pieces
by a wild bull and a leopard, in the amphitheatre at Caesarea in
Mauritania. She is the same who is commemorated on the 12th of July, in
the ancient breviary of Toledo; and in the Roman, and some other
Martyrologies, both on the 9th of July, and on the 9th of January. See a
beautiful ancient hymn in her praise, in the Mozarabic breviary, and her
acts in Bollandus, though their authority is not altogether certain.
Consult Tillemont, t. 5, p. 263. Chatelain, notes on the 9th of January
p. 146.