Ss. Tharsilla and Emiliana

The account of Tharsilla and Emiliana comes straight from St. Gregory the Great, who speaks of his aunts living an ascetic life together in Rome. In a household setting rather than a public monastery, they encouraged one another in prayer, silence, and simplicity while a third sister did not persevere in the same way. Gregory says that Tharsilla saw a heavenly place prepared for her, then on the vigil of Christmas cried out that Christ was coming and died soon after.

A few days later she appeared to Emiliana and invited her to share the Epiphany in heaven, and Emiliana herself died shortly afterward. The account is small and homely, but that is its strength: two women hidden in a household, faithful in little things, quietly ripening for heaven.