The Apostolic Age · AD 4–70
Susanna
fl. c. AD 30 (death unrecorded) · Benefactor of the ministry · Galilee
The Apostolic Age
Who Susanna was
One verse, one clause, and no second mention. Luke names her third in the list of women who travelled with Jesus and the Twelve and **“ministered unto him of their substance”** — after Mary Magdalene and Joanna, before “many others”. Of the three named, she is the only one Luke never brings back.
What the verse establishes is not small. She had substance of her own to give, she travelled with the company, and Luke thought her name worth recording when he could have written “and others”. He does not say she was healed, though the clause covers the group; he does not name a husband, a town, or a father.
Nothing further about her is recorded, and the archive adds nothing. Her name is the Hebrew Shoshannah, a lily — shared with the Susanna of the Greek additions to Daniel, on whom Julius Africanus wrote, and with whom she has no connection beyond the name.
Luke 8:3 only, in the list of women who supported the ministry out of their own means; named nowhere else in scripture or in any later source.
Also listed in women.
Common questions
When was Susanna active?
Susanna is dated fl. c. AD 30 (death unrecorded) in the archive, which places Susanna in the Apostolic Age (AD 4–70). The dating is traditional and approximate; the archive marks it as uncertain rather than fixing a year the sources do not give.
Which early sources mention Susanna?
Susanna is named in 1 primary-source passage catalogued here, drawn from Luke. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Where was Susanna from?
The archive associates Susanna with Galilee.
Who were Susanna’s contemporaries?
The archive links Susanna to 2 other figures, including Mary Magdalene and Joanna, wife of Chuza. Each connection is drawn from a source that places them together, not from inference.
Scripture record
Primary-source mentions (1)
Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Luke 8:2–3
c. AD 30And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils, and Joanna the wife of Chuza Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto him of their substance.Luke · read ↗
Connected in the archive
People
Events in this lifetime
Place
Places served
The one place the sources put Susanna.
- 1Galileeprovince only