The sculpture depicting the young martyr Bibiana was commissioned in 1624 by the recently elected Pope Urban VIII. Its creator was at that time only 25 years old, and despite being young, he already enjoyed renown thanks to sculptures completed for Cardinal Scipione Borghese (including, The Rape of Proserpina, David. When the commission came, Bernini was occupied with another task, also for Borghese, working on the Apollo and Daphne group. However, he found the time to listen to the wishes of his new client, who for the next two decades was to become a fervent enthusiast of Bernini’s talent. Bernini would become the man behind all of the most important undertakings of Urban VIII, be it architectural or sculpting, while if he could no longer complete them himself, due to lack of time, he would at least on behalf of the pope, oversee the work of his rivals.

Urban VIII, still as Cardinal Maffeo Barberini, was known for his humanistic interests and poetic talents. He also did not hide his admiration for the teenage Roman girl. He even wrote an ode in her honor, in which he emphasized her virginity, delicate, etheric beauty and resolve of spirit in the struggle for her convictions. But there is still more – her peace of mind during the moment of her death and an almost joyful awaiting for the ascension, which is the fulfillment of her legation here on Earth.

How then, to show a girl, according to a legend barely a teenager, who is burdened with emotions so mature and a faith so strong, that nothing can weaken and waver them, not even the perspective of impending torture, humiliation and death. Bernini discarded the way saint martyrs were shown until then, which he himself had used earlier, and which would concentrate on depicting the martyrdom of their nude bodies (St. Lawrence, St. Sebastian). This time his martyr, Bibiana, imprisoned in a bestial way, whipped and finally left for the dogs to feast on does not suffer, filling us with remorse, just the opposite – calm immersed in a divine light, looking upwards, she seems to already find herself on the path between heaven and earth. Her state can be called a blissful one. It is marked in only a subtle way, by  a slightly open mouth, as if the saint desired to say something or sigh, and by a raised hand, as if she had wanted to console those watching her. God, visible above her head, on the fresco in the arch at the top of the lunette, is ready to welcome her, while she – as it would seem – without grief leaves her earthly embodiment.

And now let us take a look at the drapery of the saint’s robes. Bibiana is dressed like the Vestal virgins of old, in a tunic with a supparum (a type of a shawl) cast over it. This dress however, is not only clothing, but most of all a decoration providing the delicate girl with signs of distinction and seriousness. For the first time, the artist experiments with folds – sharp and softly rounded, shallow and deep. The robe is rich and it is the thing that draws our attention, giving an excellent expression of ambivalence of strength and delicateness – the two traits which speak of the greatness of this saint. It is out of these richly draped robes that her body parts emerge – the slender neck, delicate still child-like face, slight hands and the barely visible fragment of her feet. All of these elements will be seen once again in the greatest work of Bernini – The Ecstasy of St. Teresa. However, while in this second one, the artist will focus on the rich drapery of the saint’s robes here he   also takes advantage of signs which supplement the scene, meaning a column (the symbol of Bibiana’s torture), the palm branch held in her hand (a symbol of sainthood) and a  laurel bush which grows out from under her feet (according to a legend this was either Roman mint or hemp-agrimony) – the symbol of posthumous glory.

Bibiana, a saint martyr, rediscovered for the Church by Pope Urban VIII, took her rightful place among the many other virgins from the Eternal City (Agnes, Cecilia, Pudentiana, Praxes, Anastasia), providing proof of the unquestionable significance of Rome for the Christian world and religious values at a time when its power was being undermined by the Reformation, spreading in the north of Europe and well as nation states, liberating themselves more and more from under the pope’s guardianship. Since that time both female and male martyrs, giving proof of their unification with God by the ecstatically raised eyes and hand (generally)on their hearts, would become the most popular motif prevalent in Catholic art throughout the world.