Sabina was the daughter of Herod Metallarius and the wealthy widow of Senator Valentinus,[2] originally from Avezzano in the Abruzzo region of Italy.

The widow then withdrew with a few devout friends to one of her country seats, where she spent her time doing good works.

[3] In 430 her relics were brought to the Aventine Hill, to the newly erected basilica Santa Sabina on the site of her house, originally situated near a temple of Juno.

[5] Maya Maskarinec suggests that "'Sabina'...was most plausibly the donor who had provided the titulus with property on the Aventine.

"Gradually, however, throughout Rome, many of the tituli's donors metamorphosed into their communities' patron saints.