Saint Reparata was a virgin martyr of Caesarea. She was supposedly a twenty year old girl in Caesarea who was denounced as a Christian during the persecutions launched by Emperor Trajanus Decius.
Her persecutors tried to burn her alive but she was saved by a shower of rain. She was then made to drink boiling pitch. When she again refused to apostatise, she was beheaded.
Evidence of her cult does not exist before the ninth century, when her name appears in the martyrology of Bede. She is not mentioned by Eusebius of Caesarea, who recorded the martyrdoms that took place in the Holy Land during the 3rd century.
Her cult became widespread in Europe during the Middle Ages, as evidenced by the multiple Passiones found in various parts of the continent -especially Italy, where her cult was particularly popular in Florence, Atri, Naples, and Chieti. Numerous painters created depictions of her, including Fra Bartolomeo, Arnolfo di Cambio, Andrea Pisano, Domenico Passignano, Lorenzo di Niccolò and Bernardo Daddi.
She is the patron saint of Nice and a co-patron saint of Florence (with Saint Zenobius). The former cathedral of Santa Reparata in Florence was dedicated to her. Sainte-Réparate Cathedral, in Nice, is also dedicated to her.
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