Fabiola or The Church of the Catacombs
Author: first_name: Cardinal Nicholas Patrick
last_name: Wiseman
Language: English
Year: 1885

This historical novel is set in Rome in the early 4th century AD, during the time of the cruel persecution of Christians under the Emperor Diocletian.<br><br>The heroine of the book is Fabiola, a young pagan beauty from a noble Roman family. Fabiola seems to have everything, including a superior education in the philosophers, yet under the surface, she is not content with her life. One day, in a fit of rage, she attacks and wounds her slave girl Syra, who is a secret Christian. The proud, spoile