This content was automatically translated. View the original text.
The Church of St Barbara in Scandriglia: the Place of Martyrdom, Legend and Sabine Devotion
Among olive trees and vines, in the locality of the same name approximately 3 kilometres from Scandriglia, is the small rural church of Santa Barbara. Local tradition holds that it was here, at the end of the 3rd century, that the young Christian woman was beheaded by her pagan father Dioscorus. It is a simple, secluded place that, on 4 December each year, becomes a destination of pilgrimage for the feast of the patron saint of the town and of the diocese of Rieti.
A Story Between the East and the Sabina
Barbara is believed to have been born in Nicomedia in 273 and to have moved to the Sabina region with her father, who was a collaborator of Emperor Maximian. Having converted to Christianity, she was imprisoned in a tower with three windows — a symbol of the Trinity — and finally executed. A lightning bolt struck Dioscorus immediately afterwards, bounding the saint forever to being a protector against lightning, fires and sudden death.
From the Early Christian Oratory to the Present-day Church
Near a miraculous spring — where her remains are said to have rested — a first oratory arose as early as the 6th century. Abandoned after the Saracen incursions, it was rebuilt around the year 1000. Between 955 and 969, the people of Rieti moved the relics to the Cathedral of Rieti, where they still rest today, beneath the high altar. The small church preserves a statue of the martyr, and remains the heart of the devotion of Scandriglia.
