Trasilla and Emiliana were sisters who came from an ancient Roman noble family, the gens Anicia. Their brother, Senator Gordian, was a rich patrician who owned "a magnificent villa on the
Caelian Hill and large estates in Sicily", and who became the father of
Pope Gregory I. According to hagiographer Agnes Dunbar, "[Trasilla] was so constant at her prayers that her knees became hard like those of a camel". Most of what is known about their life, visions, and death are from Gregory, who spoke about them from his 38th
homily on the
Gospel of Matthew and his
Dialogues. According to tradition, their
relics and those of their mother, Silvia, are in the Oratory of Saint Andrew on the
Caelian Hill. == References ==