December 2 ~ Saint Bibiana, 4th century martyr during the reign of Julian the Apostate.

Saint Bibiana refuses to sacrifice to the pagan gods, by Pietro da Cortona, AD 1626.
This fresco is from the Church of St. Bibiana in Rome.

On December 2, Christians commemorate Saint Bibiana, a Roman martyr of the 4th century AD. Unfortunately, the facts about Bibiana's martyrdom are few as the surviving account of her passion is considered unreliable, recorded as it was centuries after her death. We know for sure that Bibiana was an early martyr as a shrine was built for her in Rome which exists to this day. Sadly, the present-day Church of St. Bibiana sits adjacent to the Termini train station in a shabby section of Rome, complete with graffiti, even on the exterior walls of the Church itself. 

We know that the original church was built by Pope Saint Simplicius in the late 5th century as there is a notice in the Liber Pontificalis for his reign which states:

"He dedicated…another basilica of the blessed martyr Bibiana within the city of Rome beside the Licinian palace where her body rests." [Loomis, Liber Pontificalis, p. 105]

Alban Butler in his Lives of the Saints, attempted to disentangle the factual bits of the martyrdom account of St. Bibiana from the fictional interpolations of later ages. His account may be read in full here: December 2: Saint Bibiana, Virgin and Martyr

Street-side view of the church of St. Bibiana in Rome as it looks today.
It has been rebuilt and renovated extensively over the centuries so that little
of the original church erected by Pope Simplicius remains. 

In summary, Bibiana's family (father Flavianus, mother Dafrosa, and sister Demetria) were devout Christians and ran afoul of the prefect of Rome who was apparently a pagan. Flavianus, a man of some stature, was stripped of his rank, tortured and banished. He would die of his injuries a short time thereafter. Dafrosa was imprisoned in her house and later beheaded outside Rome. Demetria and Bibiana survived for some months and it seems that the prefect attempted to compel them to sacrifice to the pagan divinities. The women suffered starvation and torture when they would not accede to his demands. Demetria apparently expired while standing before the tribunal. Bibiana remained steadfast in her confession and were thereupon scourged to death.

In his account, Butler says that the prefect of Rome at the time was a man named Apronianus who was appointed to his position by the emperor Julian the Apostate. Apronianus is mentioned several times in the Roman History of Ammianus Marcellinus, a contemporary historian of Julian who was favorable to him. In Book XXVI, Chapter 3 of this work, Marcellinus gives us a fascinating account of the goings on at Rome during Apronianus's tenure:

While the changing lots of the fates were unfolding these events in the Orient, Apronianus, prefect of the eternal city, a just and strict official, among urgent cares with which that office is often burdened, made it his first main effort that the sorcerers, who at that time were becoming few in number, should be arrested, and that those who, after having been put to the question, were clearly convicted of having harmed anybody, after naming their accomplices, should be punished with death. And that thus through the danger to a few, the remainder, if any were still in concealment, might be driven away through dread of a similar fate. In this work he is said to have shown special activity for the following reason, namely, that after his appointment by authority of Julian, when he was still living in Syria, he had lost one eye on the way, and suspecting that he had been attacked by wicked arts, with justifiable but extraordinary resentment he tracked out these and other crimes with great energy. 

In this he seemed cruel to some because more than once during the races in the amphitheater, while throngs of people were crowding in, he investigated the greatest crimes. Finally, after many punishments of this kind, a charioteer called Hilarinus was convicted on his own confession of having entrusted his son, who had barely reached the age of puberty, to a mixer of poisons to be instructed in certain secret practices forbidden by law, in order to use his help at home without other witnesses. And he was condemned to death. But since the executioner was lax in guarding him, the man suddenly escaped and took refuge in a chapel of the Christian sect. However, he was at once dragged from there and beheaded. But efforts were still made to check these and similar offenses, and none, or at any rate very few, who were engaged in such abominations defied the public diligence. 

But later, long-continued impunity nourished these monstrous offences, and lawlessness went so far that a certain senator followed the example of Hilarinus, and was convicted of having apprenticed a slave of his almost by a written contract to a teacher of evil practices to be initiated into criminal secrets. But he bought escape from the death penalty, as current gossip asserted, for a large sum of money. And this very man, after being freed in the manner alleged, although he ought to be ashamed of his life and his offense, has made no effort to get rid of the stain on his character, but as if among many wicked men he alone was free from any fault, mounts a caparisoned horse and rides over the pavements, and even now is followed by great bands of slaves, by a new kind of distinction aiming to draw special attention to himself. Just as we hear of Duillius of old, that after that glorious sea-fight, he assumed the privilege, when he returned home after a dinner, of having a flute-player play soft music before him.

However, under this Apronianus there was such a constant abundance of all the necessary articles of food, that there never arose even the slightest murmur about a scarcity of victuals — a thing which constantly happens in Rome. [Ammianus Marcellinus, Roman History, Book XXVI, Chapter 3].

It is especially interesting to note that the condemned charioteer, Hilarinus, sought refuge in a Christian church, and also that he was dragged out by the magistrates of Apronianus who, apparently, had little respect for said churches as places of sanctuary. This may also indicate that Apronianus was using the accusation of sorcery—a crime that even Roman pagans had condemned for centuries—as a way to incriminate Christians. It should be remembered that Julian had specifically enjoined his officers not to persecute Christians directly in the style of Decius, Valerian, and Diocletian, but to act against them with more subtlety.