[4] According to de Natalibus, Veneranda was born in Gaul in the 2nd century and martyred in Rome during the time of Emperor Antoninus Pius (138-161 AD).

[4] A version of her legend states that Venera, as a girl, studied the Gospel with zeal, and left her home in Gaul to become a missionary.

Venera or Veneranda studied the Scriptures and lives of the martyrs as a child, and when her parents died, she dedicated herself to helping the poor and the sick.

She was on her way to Rome when she was arrested by the Roman prefect Antonius, who attempted to force her to renounce her faith with temptations and an offer of marriage, and then by torture.

Antonius had her wear a helmet of red-hot iron, had her nailed on a cross, and placed on her chest a large block of sandstone.

[3] After her martyrdom in Gaul, Christians are said to have transported her body to Ascoli Piceno,[3] where it was venerated until the 4th century, and then taken by a priest named Anthimus (Antimo) to Rome on November 14.

[3] At the beginning of the 17th century, Venera's cult flourished, when the relics of the saint were transferred from the Church of Jesus and Mary to the Cathedral of Acireale.

[3] Records from the basilica of Santa Maria a Pugliano in Ercolano state that Pope Alexander VII donated relics associated with Veneranda and a Saint Maximus in the 17th century to the Procurator General of the Carmelites in Rome.

These people maintain that the hill-town of Aphrodisia stood on this site, and the church of Santa Venera was a temple of Aphrodite seven hundred years before Christianity had any martyrs.