Who is St. Olivia, and why request her prayers, in particular?
Saint Olivia, according to legend, was the beautiful daughter of a noble Sicilian family. She is supposed to have lived in the 9th century. When she was 13 years old she was kidnapped by Muslims and taken as a slave to Tunis. Impressed by her virtue and beauty her abductors permitted her to live as a hermitess in a cave. However, after she begun to perform miracle cures on the local sick, many Muslims converted to Christianity. Consequently she was imprisoned and tortured. She was sentenced to be burnt to death, but the flames would not touch her. The Muslims then decapitated her, which finally killed her. Before 1624 Palermo had four patron saints, one for each of the four major parts of the city. They were Saint Agatha, Saint Christina, Saint Nympha, and Saint Olivia. Saint Olivia is the patron saint of music, and her feast day is June 10th.
Her prayers are requested for the Priest that was killed.