In 1802 the remains of a young woman were found in the catacomb of Saint Priscilla on the Via Salaria, Rome, Italy. It was covered by stones, the symbols on which indicated that the body was a martyr named Saint Philomena. The bones were exhumed, cataloged, and effectively forgotten since there was so little known about the person.
In 1805 Canon Francis de Lucia of Mugnano, Italy was in the Treasury of the Rare Collection of Christian Antiquity (Treasury of Relics) in the Vatican. When he reached the relics of Saint Philomena he was suddenly struck with a spiritual joy, and requested that he be allowed to enshrine them in a chapel in Mugnano. After some disagreements, settled by the cure of Canon Francis following prayers to Philomena, he was allowed to translate the relics to Mugnano. Miracles began to be reported at the shrine including cures of cancer, healing of wounds, and the Miracle of Mugnano in which Venerable Pauline Jaricot was cured a severe heart ailment overnight. Philomena became the only person recognized as a Saint solely on the basis of miraculous intercession as nothing historical was known of her except her name and the evidence of her martyrdom.
Pope Leo XII granted permission for the erection of altars and churches in her honor
Pope Gregory XVI authorized her public veneration, and named her patroness of the Living Rosary
The cure of Pope Blessed Pius IX, while archbishop of Imola, was attributed to Philomena; in 1849, Pius named her patroness of the Children of Mary
Pope Leo XIII approved the Confraternity of Saint Philomena, and raised it to an Archconfraternity
Pope Pius X raised the Archconfraternity to a Universal Archconfraternity, and named Saint John Vianney its patron
Saint John Vianney himself called Philomena the New Light of the Church Militant, and had a strong and well-known devotion to her
