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In March 2020, as the COVID-19 coronavirus disease continued to spread around the globe, many social media users encountered a rumor that was almost too perfect to believe: A patron of saint of plagues or pandemics existed, and she shared a name with the virus at the center of the outbreak: Corona. Gloria TV was one of the first to report on this rumored coincidence: The Gloria TV article provided no sources to support the claim, but the rumor was picked up by several popular Catholic websites and even the Diocese of Lansing, Michigan. When we searched for more information about St. Corona, however, we found the claim of a patron saint of plagues is a modern invention that only started to circulate in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. Catherine M. Mooney, president of the Hagiography Society, and associate professor of Church History, Boston College, School of Theology and Ministry, confirmed to us via email that St. Corona was not known as the patron saint of pandemics. Mooney writes: We found several mentions of St. Corona in articles published over the years, but it wasn't until March 2020 that she became connected to pandemics, plagues, or contagious disease. In 2008, for instance, St. Patrick Catholic Church in Washington, D.C., mentioned St. Corona in its Saint of the Day column. This article did not identify St. Corona as the patron saint of plagues. Rather, it noted St. Corona was a martyr who was killed along with her husband, St. Victor, circa A.D. 176. St. Patrick Catholic Church also noted that accounts of Corona's death may not be reliable: Died c. 176. Saint Victor and his wife Corona were martyred, probably in Syria. The details of their martyrdom as compiled in their Acta are untrustworthy (Benedictines). In art, Victor and Corona are portrayed as they are ripped asunder between trees (Roeder). The website Catholic.org provides a similar account of St. Corona's death, writing that she and her husband were put to death during the reign of Marcus Aurelius, but that accounts of their deaths are considered unreliable. This website also noted that Corona was often invoked in connection with superstitions involving money, such as gambling or treasure hunting, not pandemics or plagues. A 1929 edition of the Battle Creek Enquirer, a newspaper from Battle Creek, Michigan, identified St. Corona as the wife of an Syrian Christian who was put to death because of her faith. This clipping made no mention of her being the patron saint of plagues: Antonio Borrelli, former director of Catholic Action in the Diocese of Naples, wrote a fuller account of St. Corona in 2006. According to Borrelli, she was actually the wife of one of Victor's comrades. When Victor was being tortured for his faith, Corona declared that she, too, was a Christian, and was martyred beside him: Borrelli notes that accounts of Corona's death aren't entirely reliable because details (such as the date and location) vary depending on the source. But nowhere in Borrelli's article is Corona identified as the patron saint of plagues or pandemics. In one depiction of Corona's death, she is seen tied between two trees while Victor is beheaded in front of her: We found several articles about St. Corona prior to March 2020, but none of these articles identified her as the patron saint of plagues. It appears that is a modern title that was unofficially bestowed upon St. Corona after the coronavirus spread around the globe. Candida Moss, Edward Cadbury Professor of Theology at the University of Birmingham, also disputed this rumor on Twitter. Moss wrote that while St. Corona really existed, she is not the patron saint of infectious disease. While St. Corona was not known as a patron saint of pandemics, Mooney noted that there have been other saints associated with plagues and infectious diseases, including St. Sebastian, St. Roch, St. Nicholas of Tolentino, and St. Rosalia. Mooney also informed us that there isn't really an official process for a saint to become a patron of one particular subject: In short: A saint named Corona, who was martyred sometime in the 170s, truly existed, but accounts about her death aren't entirely reliable. While Corona has been invoked in connection to superstitions involving money, such as gambling or treasure hunting, her connection to infectious disease did not start until March 2020 when a virus that shared her name started spreading around the globe. In other words, St. Corona is not the officially designated patron saint of plagues.
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