Saint Augusta was the daughter fo the chief of the Alemanni, a confederation of Germanic tribes that lived on the upper Rhine river. The Alemanni had recently captured Friuli, a territory of northern Italy home to the Christian Friulians. The Alemanni themselves, however, were strict pagans and their chief was no exception. Her father, chief Matrucus, began to suspect that the Christian Friulians were influencing her daughter with their faith and so sent spies to watch her day and night.
The spies and returned and confirmed his worst fears - she had indeed become Christian and had been caught praying at night. In a fit of rage, he had her arrested. Viciously, he and his men beat her, yelling at her to recant her faith and return to their pagan ways. Between blows she struggled to pray to Christ, refusing to recant. Eventually, he kicked Saint Augusta so hard that he knocked out all of her teeth. Through crying eyes, she held on in prayer.
Finally outraged beyond control, Matrucus took her outside the building and decapitated her with his sword at Serravalle (today a district of Vittorio Veneto) around 100 AD. Some years after her death, Saint Augusta's remains were found on the hill that overlooks Serravalle, a hill now named Santa Augusta. The church dedicated to this martyr was built sometime in the fifth century and her story was recorded in a volume titled De probatis sanctorum historiis, written by the German scholar Laurentius Surius. Her feast day is celebrated on March 27th.
