Introducing St. Corona
Saint Corona is often mentioned in a pair with Saint Victor (and some wonder if they were married). Early Christian martyrs, Sts. Corona and Victor were killed in Roman Syria during the reign of Marcus Aurelius (170s AD), though their precise date and location of their deaths remains debated to this day.
Saint Corona’s story is one steeped in folklore. Legend states that St. Victor was a Roman soldier of Italian ancestry, serving in the city of Damascus in Roman Syria during the reign of Emperor Antoninus Pius. Because of his faith, the Roman judge Sebastian ordered to have him tortured. Wanting to make an example out of Victor, Sebastian had him bound to a pillar and whipped until his skin fell from his body. After the whipping, Sebastian ordered Victor's eyes to be gouged out.
While he was suffering from these tortures, the sixteen-year-old spouse of a Roman soldier and secret Christian, named Corona, comforted and encouraged him. She wanted him to know that he was not alone. For this, she was arrested and interrogated. St. Corona was bound to two bent palm trees and torn apart as the trunks were released. Victor was beheaded shortly after.
Corona means “crown” in Latin, and early research showed that the electron microscopes had the virus shape seemingly reminiscent of a monarch’s crown.
Corona is especially venerated in Austria and eastern Bavaria. She is invoked in connection with superstitions involving money, such as gambling or treasure hunting.
St. Victor and St. Corona are pre-congregation saints meaning that they were recognized as saints prior to Church canonization processes being standardized. (The first saint canonized by a pope was Ulrich, the bishop of Augsburg, who died in 973. He was canonized by Pope John XV at the Lateran Council of 993. Canonization became the general law of the church under Pope Gregory IX (1227-41)).
Their feast day is May 14. Their remains are in, wait for it, Italy.
