SHE was a noble Roman lady, and after many torments finished her triumph
by the sword, about the year 275. Her relics are preserved in the
ancient church which bears her name in Rome, and gives title in a
cardinal. {177} She is mentioned in the sacramentary of St. Gregory, and
in almost all western Martyrologies. The acts of her martyrdom deserve
no regard: St. Paul, in the last chapter of his epistle to the Romans,
salutes Aquila, a person of Pontus, of Jewish extraction, and Priscilla,
whom he and all churches thanked, because they had exposed themselves
for his sake. He mentions the church which assembled in their house,
which he attributes to no other among the twenty-five Christians whom he
saluted, and were then at Rome. This agrees with the immemorial
tradition at Rome, that St. Peter consecrated an altar, and baptized
there in an urn of stone, which is now kept in the church of St. Prisca.
Aquila and Priscilla are still honored in this church, as titular
patrons with our saint, and a considerable part of their relics lies
under the altar. Aquila and Priscilla were tent-makers, and lived at
Corinth when they were banished from Rome under Claudius: she who is
called Priscilla in the Acts of the Apostles, and Epistles to the Roman,
and first to the Corinthians, is named Prisca in the second to Timothy.
See the Roman Martyrology on the 18th of January and the 8th of July;
also Chatelain, not. p. 333.