{{Short description|Christian virgin martyr (died 3rd century)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2019}} {{Infobox saint | name = Reparata of Caesarea |honorific suffix= | titles = Virgin and martyr | image = St. Reparata (cropped).jpg | imagesize = 150px | caption = |honorific prefix=Saint| birth_date = | birth_place = Caesarea Maritima, Palestine | death_date = 3rd century AD | death_place = | venerated_in = Roman Catholic Church | beatified_date = | beatified_place = | beatified_by = | canonized_date = | canonized_place = | canonized_by = | feast_day = 8 October | attributes = crown, martyr's palm; dove; banner with a red cross on a white field; accompanied by St. Ansanus<ref name="Anna Jameson 1857">{{cite book |last1= Jameson |first1= Anna |title= Sacred and Legendary Art |publisher= Longman, Brown, Green | page = 648| date= 1857}}</ref> | patronage = Nice, France; Florence, Italy | issues = | suppressed_date = }}
'''Reparata''' ({{langx|it|Santa Reparata}}, {{langx|fr|Sainte Réparate}}) was, according to tradition, a third-century virgin who was martyred for her Christian faith in her hometown of Caesarea, Roman Province of Palestine, and later canonised by the Catholic Church.<ref name="sqpn">[http://saints.sqpn.com/saintr16.htm Patron Saints Index: Saint Reparata] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080330133700/http://saints.sqpn.com/saintr16.htm |date=2008-03-30 }}</ref>
==Initial legend and evolution== Sources record her age as being between 11 and 20 years old, with Sainte-Réparate Cathedrale in Nice placing it as 15.<ref>[http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=4586 Confer]</ref> She was arrested for her faith and tortured during the persecution of Roman emperor Decius (r. 249–251).<ref name="sqpn"/>
Her persecutors tried to burn her alive, but she was saved by a shower of rain. She was then compelled to drink boiling pitch. When she again refused to apostatize, she was decapitated.<ref name="sqpn" /> Her legend states that immediately upon dying a dove appeared to symbolize the departure of her spirit therefrom to Heaven.<ref name="Anna Jameson 1857"/>
Later elaborations of her legend state that her body was laid in a boat and blown by the breath of angels to the bay presently denominated the "Baie des Anges" in Nice. A similar tale is associated with the legends of Restituta; Devota, patroness of Monaco and Corsica; and Torpes of Pisa.
==Historicity== Evidence of her cult does not exist before the ninth century, when her name appeared in the martyrology of Bede. Eusebius of Caesarea (c. 260/265–339), who recorded the martyrdoms that occurred in the Holy Land during the third century, did not reference her.<ref name="santiebeati.it">[https://translate.google.com/translate?u=http://santiebeati.it/Detailed/73575.html&langpair=it%7Cen&hl=it&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&prev=%2Flanguage_tools Borrelli, Antonio. "Santa Reparata di Cesarea di Palestina", Santi e Beati]</ref>
==Spread, depiction, and local significance== Her cult became widespread in Europe during the Middle Ages, as evidenced by the multiple ''Passiones'' in various parts of the continent, especially in Italy, where her cult was especially popular, specifically in Florence, Atri, Naples, and Chieti.<ref name="santiebeati.it"/> Numerous painters depicted her, including Fra Bartolomeo, Arnolfo di Cambio, Andrea Pisano, Domenico Passignano, and Bernardo Daddi.<ref>[http://www.metmuseum.org/works_of_art/collection_database/european_paintings/Saint_Reparata_before_the_Emperor_Decius/viewObject.aspx?&OID=110000507&PgSz=1 The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
She remained primary patroness of Florence until the High Middle Ages; Anna Jameson writes that circa "1298 she appears to have been deposed from her dignity as sole patroness; the city was placed under the immediate tutelage of the Virgin and St. John the Baptist."<ref name="Anna Jameson 1857"/>
She is the patroness of Nice and a co-patroness of Florence (with Zenobius of Florence). The former Cathedral of Santa Reparata in Florence was dedicated in honor of her.
Florence celebrates her feast annually on 8 October, in commemoration of its deliverance from the Ostrogoths led by Radagaisus in AD 406, which it attributes to her intercession.
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category|Saint Reparata}} {{Commons|Santa Reparata (Florence)}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20080330133700/http://saints.sqpn.com/saintr16.htm Reparata] * [http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/73575 Santa Reparata di Cesarea di Palestina] {{in lang|it}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Reparata, Saint}} Category:3rd-century deaths Category:3rd-century Christian martyrs Category:Christian child saints Category:Saints from the Holy Land Category:Year of birth unknown Category:Christian martyrs Category:Virgin martyrs Category:People from Caesarea Maritima Category:Decian persecution