Olivia was the beautiful daughter of a noble Sicilian family, born around 448 AD, in the Loggia district of Palermo. The name Olivia is a symbol of peace, fruitfulness, dignity, and beauty. From her early years she devoted herself to the Lord while declining honors and riches, and loved to give charity to the poor.
In 454 AD Genseric, king of the Vandals, conquered Sicily and occupied Palermo, martyring many Christians. Olivia was described as a ravishing beauty of 13 years when she was captured and sent to Tunis. At the prison, she began to comfort other prisoners and urged the Christians to remain steadfast in their faith, she also perform miracles and convert pagans to Christianity. Wishing to get rid of her, the governor therefore ordered that she be relegated to a lonely place as a hermitess, where there were wild animals, hoping that the beasts would devour her or that she would die of hunger.
However the wild animals lived peacefully around her. One day some men from Tunis who were hunting found her, and impressed by her beauty tried to abuse her; but Olivia converted them too with the word of the Lord and they were baptized. After miraculously curing many of the sick and suffering in the region, Olivia converted many pagans to the Christian faith.
When the governor heard about these things, once again he had her arrested and imprisoned in the city in an attempt to make her apostatize. She was scourged and she was stripped and submerged into a cauldron of boiling oil, but these tortures did not cause her any harm, nor did they make her renounce her faith. She then sentenced to be burned alive, her torturers grew fearful when she was unharmed by the flames that leapt around her. Finally she was beheaded on June 10 of the year 463, and her soul “flew to the sky in the form of a dove”
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My great granddaughter will be named Olivia. I read the facts below and was wondering if this story of Olivia was fictional or a true story about Olivia and also wondered if she was a canonized saint…Some other sites say no to her be canonized. Can you shed some light on this please?
Hi Peggy. Thank you for your comment. Olivia is a very beautiful name, and her story is very captivating. Thank you for choosing your granddaughter name after her. I hope your granddaughter will grow up as beautiful and true Christian like her.
I am not an expert at this. However to answer your question there is always two side of the story: one who believe she is a fictional character, and one who believe she is real; she is patron saint of Palermo, Italy (elected on June 5th, 1606). Even though her name was not recorded historically in any mainstream Latin or Greek martyrology or Hagiology of the Church, she was held in great esteem by Christians and Muslims. Msgr. Paul Collura defends Saint Olivia’s historicity writing that “the core of our ancient legends has a substrate that should not be underestimated, and since the Arab domination in Sicily (827–1092) made a clean sweep of all the written documents, sacred and profane, the memory of several Saints has been handed down only on the thread of memory.” You may want to get to know the Saint better by this prayer;
Prayer to St. Olivia of Palermo
St. Olivia, you were born to noble parents on the island of Sicily, growing up devout and zealous. You were uninterested in money or prestige and preferred to give alms to the poor. When the Vandals sacked your island and took many Christians prisoner, you went to visit them and console them. Your piety and steadfastness impressed everyone around you; the good and the bad. While in Tunis you worked miracles and converted many pagans. Despite the tortures you had to bear from the governor, you were always unharmed because Christ always be with you.
St. Olivia, you were a constant evangelizer of the Gospel. Pray for the success of the New Evangelization, so that we may draw many more souls back to the Church and back to God. St. Olivia, you were staunch and loyal in your faith. Pray that we may persevere in our faith as you did. St. Olivia, you were willing to die for the sake of our Savior. Pray that we may follow wherever Christ wishes to lead us. Amen.
St. Olivia of Palermo, pray for us!
Thank you so much for this information. I plan on putting this information in a little frame and give to my son when Olivia is born. They picked this name out
because they liked the name. Now it will have more meaning to them. I appreciate your response. May God bless you and have a great day!
tyu
I am Olivia😊😊 after reading this I felt so excited… Indeed I am feeling glad from now and for the rest of my life..
All I know was my name reveals peace… Today I am happy that I have found my patron….. Thank you for the information and God bless😇😇
I love the story of my namesake… For whatever reason my poor father just gave me a name… And today I realise it has a great meaning… I found out it was carried by a soldier of Christ The King… St. Olivia pray for us🙏🙏🙏 one day if I become a religious sister I carry my name in honour of her.. and through her pray I know I persevere and make it..
My great granddaughter’s name is Olivia Ann. I did put information of St. Olivia in a frame when she was born. When she grows up, they will have that to give to her. Was happy to get the information. I love that your name too is Olivia…
I am indeed glad… May our saint Olivia intercede for us…
my name is olivia
Also named Olivia