The simplest version of her legend is that she belonged to a family of high status: her father Calpurnius was prefect of the city of Rome (praefectus Urbis).

Olympiadis, a high official, attempted to seduce her but was converted by her to the Christian faith, for which he was martyred.

She then left her family to devote herself to prayer in seclusion, near the city of Amelia in Umbria, where she suffered martyrdom during the persecution of Diocletian and was buried.

Many miracles are attributed to her, one of which occurred during a sea passage to Centumcellae, the present Civitavecchia, when a sudden violent storm was calmed by her miraculous intervention.

It has been suggested[3] that all three are local cults of a single saint, the African martyr Firmina commemorated in the Martyrologium Hieronymianum on 9 and 10 October.