[Usuardus, and Roman Martyrology. Authority:—The Acts of S. Alexander Pope and M. (May 3rd); but these, as has been already stated, are not trustworthy. There exists Acts which represent her as a Martyr, but they are even more untrustworthy than those of S. Alexander.]
Saint Balbina was the daughter of S. Quirinus the Tribune, whose legend has been given on March 30th. She was converted at the same time as her father, and received baptism at the hands of S. Alexander. The legend is as follows:—Quirinus said to his prisoner Alexander the Pope, "I have a daughter whom I desire to see married, but she is scrofulous. Cure her, and we will together believe in Christ." Then said Alexander, "Go, go, and bring her into my dungeon, and take the prison collar from my neck and lay it on her, and speedily she will be whole." Then the father did as he was commanded, and brought Balbina to the Pope, and he laid his collar about her neck, and then Alexander said to the father, "Depart, I pray thee." So Quirinus went forth. And suddenly there appeared a boy bearing a torch, and he went to the maiden and said, "Be constant in thy virginity, O damsel, and receive perfect soundness of body; and thou shalt see thy Bridegroom who for love of thee shed His blood." And so saying he disappeared. Then the father, coming in, found that she was healed of her infirmity, and himself was baptized and his whole house.
Now after the martyrdom of S. Quirinus, she was seen by S. Alexander often kissing the collar which had healed her. Then said he, "Cease from kissing this collar, and seek rather to embrace the chains of S. Peter." Then she had no rest till she had found those chains—how and where she found them we are not told; and "she began with great fear to kiss them eagerly, and to give praise to the King of Heaven." And these chains she gave afterwards to S. Theodora, a devout woman, the sister of S. Hermes the Prefect, and they are shown to this day at Rome in the church of S. Peter "ad vincula."
In these fabulous acts it is impossible to say how much of truth lies overgrown with legend. A church dedicated to S. Balbina certainly existed in Rome in 590, when three priests of the church of that dedication subscribed the acts of a council held in Rome.
Her body is preserved in this church, but other relics are said to be in the Dominican church at Bologna.
There are other saints of the same name commemorated among the virgin company of S. Ursula, and it is probably the head of one of these which is preserved in Cologne, in the Franciscan church. In the church of S. Pantaleon, in the same city, are the bones of S. Balbina—no doubt she was one of the Ursuline band. But the cathedral of Cologne claims to have the bones of the Roman S. Balbina. Another head was shown at Millen, but it was removed to Siburg, and according to the popular tradition Mass could not be said again on the altar from which the relics had been removed, as the candles refused to burn; but as soon as they were restored to their former position, no more difficulty was experienced in getting the tapers to keep alight. In art S. Balbina appears holding the chains of S. Peter, with the collar of S. Alexander either about her neck or in her hand. She is invoked against scrofula.
S. BENJAMIN, D. M.
(5TH CENT.)
[Greek Menæa and Menologium of the Emperor Basil Porphyrogenitus, and the Modern Roman Martyrology. Authority:—Theodoret, Hist. Eccl. 46 v., c. 38.]