According to an ancient, not documented tradition, the church was built in 363 by Roman matron Olimpina (or Olimpia) on the house where, during the supposed persecution of emperor
Julian (361–363),
Bibiana, her mother Dafrosa and her sister Demetria would have suffered
martyrdom, while her father Flavian of Montefiascone would have been exiled and martyred in a place called
ad Aquas Taurinas (perhaps the present
Montefiascone). The church rose in the area of the
Horti Liciniani, not far from the
nymphaeum usually known as
Temple of Minerva Medica. Near the church there was an ancient cemetery, called
ad ursum pileatum. On the other hand, according to the
Liber Pontificalis the church was erected in 476 under the pontificate of
Pope Simplicius.
Pope Leo II (682-683) moved there the relics of
Martyrs Simplicus, Faustinus and Beatrix from the
Generosa Catacombs. The same Pope built in the surroundings (
iuxta Sanctam Vivianam) a church consecrated to
Saint Paul, no longer extant. The church was restored by
Pope Honorius III in 1224. The present facade was designed and built by then 26-year-old
Gian Lorenzo Bernini from 1624 to 1626, as commissioned by
Pope Urban VIII. The columns lining the nave are from the original fifth-century church. The church houses a
statue of the titular saint, also by Bernini (1626). It shows St. Bibiana holding the palm leaf of martyrs, standing next to the column to which she was to be martyred. The frescoes on the walls are by
Pietro da Cortona (left) and
Agostino Ciampelli (right). The bodies of St Bibiana (Viviana or Vibiana), her mother Dafrosa and her sister Demetria were discovered inside a third-century sarcophagus, and now rest inside an
alabaster urn under the major altar. The column just inside the church is said to be the one Bibiana was strapped to. The church of Santa Bibiana is located in 154 via Giovanni Giolitti in Rome, adjacent to
Termini Station and not far from the
so-called "Temple of Minerva Medica". ==Gallery==