The daughter of two martyred parents, Artemio and Candida, Paulina died for the faith at Rome in the year 302.

Paulina was a laywoman martyred at Rome in the year 302, identified in the ancient record as the daughter of two other martyrs, Artemio and Candida. This family connection is the clearest fact preserved about her; no further detail of her age or the specific circumstances of her death survives. No formal canonization process is recorded, and her veneration rests on the ancient cult of the Roman church.

Quick Facts

• Died: 302, Rome, Italy
• Family: daughter of Saint Artemio and Saint Candida
• Venerated as: Laywoman and martyr

Who Was Saint Paulina?

Paulina died a martyr in Rome in 302, in the years just before the great Diocletianic persecution broke out in full force across the empire. What distinguishes her record from many similar entries is the family detail preserved: she is named as the daughter of Artemio and Candida, both themselves honored as martyrs, suggesting either a shared arrest or a family whose faith was tested across more than one generation at once.

Historical Setting

Rome at the turn of the fourth century still harbored real danger for openly professed Christians even before Diocletian’s edicts formally opened the empire’s last and most systematic persecution in 303. Family arrests, where parents and children were seized together for their shared refusal to sacrifice to the Roman gods, appear periodically in the ancient Roman martyrologies, and Paulina’s connection to her parents Artemio and Candida likely reflects exactly this kind of household-wide reckoning.

Why the Church Remembers Saint Paulina

Martyrdom sometimes ran through an entire family rather than claiming a single individual, and Paulina’s case, remembered specifically as the daughter of two other named martyrs, preserves one instance of that pattern from ancient Rome. The Church honors her not in isolation but as part of a family whose faith apparently held firm across the closeness of blood relation as well as belief.

Canonization and Feast Day

Rome’s ancient martyrology lists Paulina alongside her parents without any later formal canonization process attached to her name, which is the expected situation for a death this early; her cult, like theirs, rests on the immemorial veneration of the Roman church rather than any documented papal act.

What Catholics Can Learn Today

Paulina inherited her faith from parents who themselves died for it, a reminder that Christian conviction is very often handed down within families rather than arrived at alone. Her memory encourages parents today to consider the example of belief and courage they pass on to their own children, an inheritance Paulina’s own family evidently offered in the most costly way possible.

A Prayer to Saint Paulina

Saint Paulina, daughter of martyrs who carried your parents’ faith to your own final witness, pray for children who inherit belief from those who raised them. Help every generation hand on the gift of faith with the same steadfastness your family showed. Amen.

Sources

• Roman Martyrology, entry for the ancient church of Rome
• New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia, general entries on the pre-Diocletianic Roman martyrs