Candida the Elder

About Candida the Elder

Candida the Elder belongs to the devotional memory of Naples, but the surviving evidence does not establish an identifiable woman from the apostolic age. The Archdiocese of Naples records that an older Roman Martyrology commemorated two Neapolitan women named Candida on 4 September, one traditionally placed in the first century.

The elder Candida appears in a life of Aspreno composed many centuries after the events it describes. That story says an elderly woman met Peter in Naples, received healing and baptism, and asked him to heal Aspreno. These scenes are an attributed legend, not contemporary evidence that Peter met her.

The diocesan assessment suggests that the legendary elder may have been constructed from an epitaph concerning a different Candida who died in the sixth century. It also questions whether either Candida can historically claim the honors of cult. A later silver bust in the Naples diocesan museum nevertheless witnesses the persistence of Candida devotion.