Sts. Trasilla and Emiliana Aunts of St. Gregory the Great,
virgins in the sixth century, given in the Roman Martyrology,
the former on 24 December, the latter on 5 January. St. Gregory
(Hom. XXXVIII, 15, on the Gospel of St. Matthew, and Lib. Dial.,
IV, 16) relates that his father, the Senator Gordian, had three
sisters who vowed themselves to God and led a life of virginity,
fasting, and prayer in their own home on the Clivus Scauri in
Rome. They were Trasilla (Tarsilla, Tharsilla, Thrasilla),
Emiliana, and Gordiana. Gordiana, led on at first by the words
and example of her sisters, did not persevere but returned to
the vanities of the world. After many years in the service of
God, St. Felix III, an ancestor, appeared to Trasilla and bade
her enter her abode of glory. On the eve of Christmas she died,
seeing Jesus beckoning. A few days later she appeared to
Emiliana, who had followed well in her footsteps, and invited
her to the celebration of Epiphany in heaven. Tradition says
that their relics and those of