Fructesca is the Roman Goddess of the fruit harvest, Who can give (or, one assumes, deny) an abundant harvest of fruit. Her name is related to the Latin fructuosus, meaning ‘fruitful, productive, or abounding in fruit’, with additional meanings of ‘profitable’ and ‘advantageous’. It seems She is specifically concerned with the harvest of fruit (such as apples, pears, &c.) rather than (for example) grains or vegetables. She is apparently not the same as Pomona, the Roman Goddess of fruiting trees and orchards, who protects fruit trees and makes sure they flourish.

She is mentioned solely in ‘Saint’ Augustine’s polemic The City of God in the middle of a long rant about the Goddess Felicitas; as usual he’s kvetching about all the little Roman Deities Who are completely ridiculous and can’t hold a candle to his One And Only God™ Who is obviously better since He’s so all-powerful, so there. (One could argue that only having one God is also silly, since given so many followers how could He possibly hear or answer every prayer? Not to mention totally stripping anything to do with the female divine away, therefore making the whole thing ridiculously out of balance.)

Fructesca has been linked with the Goddess Seia, Who protects the newly planted corn in the field; I’m not sure why, since planting grain and harvesting fruit are quite different things.

As the Goddess of a fruitful harvest in a quite literal manner, one wonders if Fructesca’s domain in modern times might be extended in a more metaphorical way, making Her perhaps the Goddess of other kinds of fruitfulness or productivity, for example in creative endeavors. She might then be a Goddess of finished or finishing projects. Now I don’t know about you, but I could certainly use that kind of help.