We don't actually know all that much about the life of Saint Philomena. She was a Grecian princess and she was very beautiful. St. Philomena had a great love for God.
Sometime in the early 300's Diocletian wanted to start a war so St. Philomena's father said that they would go to Rome and see if they could do anything to keep peace.
When they got to Rome Diocletian fell in love with St.Philomena. But Diocletian already had a wife so when he asked St. Philomena to marry him she said she would rather die than to commit the sin of marrying someone who was already married and besides that, she had promised herself to God when she was very young. Diocletian was so angry at this that he ordered his men to have St. Philomena scourged. On the night after her scourging, as she was lying in her cell she saw an apparition of Our Lady. Our Lady said to have strength for what was to come and to always keep her faith in God, all the way to the end.
The next morning when Diocletian came to propose marriage once again to St. Philomena he found that every scar that had been there the night before was completely gone and that now she had more faith than ever in God. So Diocletian ordered that St. Philomena was to be tied to an anchor and thrown into a lake. This too was a failure because, before there was time enough for her to actually drown, angels lifted her out of the water and brought her safely to land.
Diocletian was so annoyed at this that he ordered that she was to be pierced with arrows. But every time an arrow came close to her it turned around and pierced the soldier that sent it. After this Diocletian decided to do something that would not fail. He said that she would be beheaded.
After her beheading St. Philomena's soul went straight to God.
In the 1800's some men who were looking in all the old catacombs found one that said " Fi tecum pax Lumena" But when the words were all put together correctly it said "Pax tecum Filumena" which means "Peace be to you Philomena". Next to the inscription were pictures of an anchor, an arrow, and a lily. This meant that she was a martyr. Later she was taken to Mugnano and is still there.
Her feast is August 11,
She is the patron saint of youth.