🌹Saint Prisca, an illustrious martyr of the Primitive Church in the 1st century, is venerated as one of the first flowers of holiness in Rome and an intrepid witness of the apostolic faith. Tradition narrates that, belonging to a noble family, she was baptized by the Apostle Saint Peter himself at the age of thirteen, demonstrating a wisdom and spiritual fortitude far beyond her years. During the persecution of Emperor Claudius, the young virgin was subjected to cruel tortures for refusing to apostatize and offer incense to pagan idols, preferring death to betraying her Divine Spouse. Among the prodigies of her combat, it is told that she was thrown to a hungry lion in the amphitheater, but the beast, instead of devouring her, meekly prostrated itself at her feet, which inspired the conversion of many spectators. Finally, Prisca received the crown of martyrdom by the sword, being beheaded outside the city walls. Her body rests in the ancient titular church that bears her name on the Aventine Hill, considered one of the oldest places of worship in Rome, built over the house where Saint Peter is believed to have stayed.
🛡️Introit (Ps 118:95-96 | Ps 118:1)
Me exspectavérunt peccatóres, ut pérderent me: testimónia tua, Dómine, intelléxi: omnis consummatiónis vidi finem: latum mandátum tuum nimis. Ps. Beáti immaculáti in via: qui ámbulant in lege Dómini. The wicked have waited for me to destroy me: but I have understood Thy testimonies, O Lord: I have seen an end of all perfection: Thy commandment is exceeding broad. Ps. Blessed are the undefiled in the way: who walk in the law of the Lord.
📜Epistle (Ecclus 51:13-17)
O Lord, my God, Thou hast exalted my dwelling place upon the earth, and I have prayed for death to pass away. I called upon the Lord, the Father of my Lord, that He would not leave me in the day of my trouble, and in the time of the proud, without help. I will praise Thy Name continually, and will praise it with thanksgiving, and my prayer was heard. And Thou hast saved me from destruction, and hast delivered me from the evil time. Therefore I will give thanks, and praise Thee, and bless the Name of the Lord.
✠Gospel (Mt 13:44-52)
At that time, Jesus spoke to His disciples this parable: The kingdom of heaven is like unto a treasure hidden in a field. Which a man having found, hid it, and for joy thereof goeth, and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. Again the kingdom of heaven is like to a merchant seeking good pearls. Who when he had found one pearl of great price, went his way, and sold all that he had, and bought it. Again the kingdom of heaven is like to a net cast into the sea, and gathering together of all kind of fishes. Which, when it was filled, they drew out, and sitting by the shore, they chose out the good into vessels, but the bad they cast forth. So shall it be at the end of the world. The angels shall go out, and shall separate the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Have ye understood all these things? They say to Him: Yes. He said unto them: Therefore every scribe instructed in the kingdom of heaven is like to a man that is a householder, who bringeth forth out of his treasure new things and old.
💎The Hidden Treasure and the Price of Martyrdom
💰The liturgy of today, in honoring Saint Prisca, magnificently intertwines the wisdom of the Divine Law with the absolute value of the Kingdom of Heaven. The Introit declares: "I have seen an end of all perfection," indicating that the martyr understood the finitude and vanity of Roman glories and of earthly life itself before the eternity of God. This understanding is the key to the Gospel, where the Kingdom is compared to a treasure and a pearl of great price that require the selling of "all that one has." Saint Augustine, reflecting on this divine exchange, teaches that the price of the Kingdom is the person themselves: "The Kingdom of Heaven is worth as much as you are. Give yourself, and you shall have it" (Sermon 127). Saint Prisca, though young and noble, acted as the prudent merchant; she did not hesitate to sell her nobility, her youth, and her physical integrity in martyrdom to buy the field where the treasure was hidden. The parable of the net, also present in the Gospel, resonates with her history, for having been baptized by Saint Peter, the Fisher of Men, she was gathered into the net of the Church and, on the day of Judgment, will be counted among the "good fish" chosen by the Angels. Her prayer in the Epistle ("Thou hast saved me from destruction") refers not to salvation from physical death, but to the preservation of the immortal soul in the "evil time" of persecution. Thus, her memory invites us to examine what we are willing to "sell"—our attachments, vices, and comforts—to acquire the only pearl that death cannot steal.
👉See English version of the critical articles here.
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