The story of Saint Christina

             " The story of saint Christina "

 July 24th is a day of great festivity and celebration for the people of Balsena of Tuscany in Central Italy. It is the day on which our dear Saint Christina died as a martyr. This Memorial Day is of great importance for the people there just like how Passover festival is for Christians. On this day, the life history and the important events in the life of this small little girl, Saint Christina, are enacted as a play in many parts of the city. This is done as an expression of their love, respect, reverence and faith in this dear saint.
A poet once said,“God has not promised skies always blue Flower strewn pathways all out life through

God has not promised sun without sorrow
Peace without pain
But god has promised strength for the day rest for the labour
Light for the way grace for the trials
Help from above
Unfailing sympathy and undying love !!!!!!!!!!
This poem was best suited for the life of our Saint Christina.
As it is written in the Holy Bible, “Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb?
Though, they may forget, yet I will not forget thee”. This promise of God was very true in the life of our dear Saint, Christina. Every person on this earth meets with rejection at some point of time in his life. But if rejection comes from one’s own home, from one’s own parents then it is a tough task to digest. As a common fact, female children are more attached to their father than their mother. But if that small child had to face her father as her enemy, it is a very pitiable condition for the child isn’t it? This was the situation in the life of Saint Christina. Her own father turned against her and the
rest of her life was a tragedy beyond words could describe.
   There is not much of information about this saint’s mother or her siblings. But a lot of information is available about her father. Her father’s name was Urban. Though born in a royal family, still he hated Christians and considered them as his worst enemies. He was the ruler of the city of Tire situated in Tuscany and hence was vested with enormous power. In the middle of the second and Third century BC, according to the orders of Diocletian the roman emperor, Urban was given the authority to persecute Christians and take away their wealth. So he utilized this power to the fullest extent and killed a large number of Christians.
  God created man in his own image and likeness in order to have a relationship with him and above all he wanted human beings to worship Him. But man turned out to be more and more jealous and started to love the creation and forgot the creator, which lead to a huge gap between man and God. Man was interested in all kinds of worldly pleasure like money, wealth, gold, women, drinks and all that was under the sun. But he did not think of eternal life. Thus he started to worship all the gods and goddesses who gave him this kind of pleasure. It is said that in India, the ancient Indians worshiped god Soma, who gave pleasure to men when they drank the soma panam. They did this because they said that when they drink this soma panam, they lose control of their self and mind. So they considered this to be a god. At one point of time, man forgot his creator completely. In order to make man remember Him always, to bridge the gap between man and God and to bring out man from his sinful ways, God came down as Jesus to this world. He came down from heaven to this earth to prove to this world and mankind that he is the Lord God Almighty and that he is the creator of this world and that he is the only true God. Still man was not ready to accept this. So in order to make these people understand the true living God, God sent his saints who will live and die as a witness of Jesus Christ.  These saints followed the foot prints of Jesus especially in their death. They did not fear or withdrew to die as martyrs. One such martyr is Saint Christina.
 The emperor of the city of Tire, Urban was a great devote of the Roman Greek gods Jupiter, Apollo and the love goddess Venus. He believed that these gods were responsible for his enormous wealth and respectable post. He also believed that these gods gave his entire race people great wealth and powers and responsibilities. In his pride he often asked, “Is there any god who is more powerful that the Roman gods Apollo and Jupiter?” The Christians gave an apt reply for this question stating, “There is a God who is above all these so called Gods. He is the most powerful God, Jesus Christ.” This reply drove Urban in a violent rage and thus he caught the Christians and put them in prison and tortured them in all possible ways.
   One day he took his nine year old daughter along with him to prison. He had already planned his daughter’s future of either getting her married to a young and capable prince who will succeed him after his death or make her a priest in the temple of his Roman Greek gods, Apollo and Jupiter. So he often told himself that he should train her in this aspect, so that she will develop great reverence and faith in his gods and more importantly hate the Christians. This small girl too
listened to all that her father said about his gods as well as about these Christians. So once she got a chance to see the Christians being tormented in prison. She caught sight of an old man who stated at her keenly. The next moment a strong whip was given on his back and the soldier said, “Hey you old man. How dare you will stare at our princess without any respect for her? Ask her forgiveness this right now.” Blood flowed down from the wound caused by that whip. Still the old man asked with patience, “Dear son, what is mistake which I have done to ask for forgiveness? I am just reminded of my own granddaughter when I saw this little princess. Is this a mistake?”
Immediately the next whip fell on his body even more strongly. The soldier ordered his stating, “Enough of your daringness to speak like this. Show your respect for our princess.” Immediately the old man bowed down in respect before the princess. Christina also responded for his bow. Seeing this, her father told her, “My dear child, you are not supposed to salute these Christians. They are far below our status.  You should hate them. They are our enemies. They speak ill against our gods. So don’t talk to them at any point of your life.”
This visitation of prison and Urban’s advice to his daughter became a routine activity. But amidst all these teachings, the old man’s calm face flashed in the young girls mind often. She was surprised to note that, the old man and all the other Christians were happy amidst all these tortures. They actually smiled in their agony. She wanted to know the secret of this. One day she found out the secret. She had an opportunity to talk in person with the old man in prison.

    But actually it was not the old man who spoke to her, but Jesus Christ himself. Within those few minutes she came to know about Jesus Christ. That night an angel of the Lord came to her and said, “Dear Child Christina! Hence forth you should be called by this name only. This is the name Jesus Christ is giving you. From this day you belong to Jesus Christ. So your life should be a witness of Jesus. He is going to do great things through you. From today you will be empowered with
wisdom. All that you know about Jesus Christ so far is sufficient for you. The rest will be told to you by the Holy Spirit.” So saying the angel disappeared. As the angel said, Christina was filled with the wisdom of this world as well as the wisdom to know about Jesus.

  These changes were very much evident and her father did not miss to notice these remarkable changes in the behavior of his daughter. Still he comforted his troubled heart saying that this behavior of his daughter was because she has entered into the adolescent age. By then Christina was around eleven or twelve years of age.
   One day Christina got the opportunity to bear witness for Jesus Christ. Since her father wanted to test Christina’s faith towards the Roman Greek gods, he took her to the temple of god Apollo. He told his daughter, “Dear child, this is the great god Apollo whom our ancestors worshiped. So go ahead and worship this great god.”

  Christina calmly replied, “Dear father, kindly do not mistake me. But I would like to tell you that this so called great god Apollo is just stone and wood. It has no life in it. Our ancestors were ignorant about who was the true creator of the heaven and earth, the entire universe, this earth
and all that is in it including mankind.

  That was the reason they worshiped these gods. Hence why should we too, follow them in worshiping these gods when we know the true God and the creator of the universe? From the day Jesus Christ was born in this world, he brought to light all the facts about the only true living god, the great creator and master of all that is exists. So he is the only true God and there is no other God equal to his in all the heaven, earth and the depth of this world.

   Since the Christian’s have understood this truth, they have accepted Jesus Christ and their savior. That is the reason the world rejects the Christians because they have not yet
tasted the love of Jesus; they still do not know the truth. That is why these Christians and happy to undergo all the sufferings and even give up their life to bear witness for Jesus Christ. They follow the footsteps of their master in all walks of their life, including death.
   Even I have accepted Jesus Christ as my own savior, God and master. So I cannot accept these false gods anymore.” This was the first time Christina spoke about Jesus to her father and the very first time itself she expressed the deep faith and love she had for Jesus Christ.
  Urban who did not expect this reply stood speech less before her. Still he spoke up and said, “I see! So my dear daughter too is a Christian now. What a wonder. But my child, are you aware of what it is to be a Christian? Do you know the life of a true Christian?”
 Christina calmly replied with a smile, “Yes dad, I know very well what it is to be a Christian. Of course you have shown me enough and more of the life of Christians in this prison. Truth cannot be compensated for any human sentiments because truth is beyond it. I too will stand for the truth dad.”

  Urban was now moved with sentiments and said, “no my sweet child. Do not bring in this Jesus into our peaceful life. He
will separate you and me. Listen to me and change your mind. Don’t trouble me like this in my old age. Say no to Jesus and the Christian religion. No one in our race has done such a mistake. I am surprised that you have accepted Christ. First give respect to me. I am your father, the ruler of this great kingdom. Everyone has great respect and fear for me. When I go forward to teach the entire world that Christianity is false and my own daughter stands for Christ, it is the greatest insult for me child. Please do understand and think before you take any decision in your life.”

   Christina replied, “Dear father I will never do anything to bring disgrace to you. Believe me. If you too accept Jesus Christ as your savior, then nothing can separate us.
Do not be worried about the respect this world gives you. It is a false one. As long as you are in this post, you will receive this respect and people will fear you. The respect which you are enjoying now is not out of love but out of fear, so this will not last long. But once you are off this post, not even a dog will turn to look at you with respect.  People will smile at your face and curse you at your back. Do you prefer this kind of a respect dad? So do think of what I am saying dad. If you are to receive respect based on love then it will last forever, wherever you are and whatever may be the post you hold, whether you are wealthy or poor people will respect you out of love.

   As you said that none of our ancestors have accepted Christ
and so I should not do this. But just because our ancestors were naked in the Stone Age, it doesn’t mean that we too should follow them and be naked all our life. Similarly, just because our ancestors, out of ignorance, worshiped false idols, does not mean we too should follow the same even after we know who the true god is. Jesus Christ is the only true God. Jesus Christ is the only person who divided history into BC and AD.

  Jesus Christ has a proper history. So many prophets have foretold the birth, life and death of Jesus even 800 years ago.
Prophet Isaiah has clearly described all about Jesus in his book in the bible.  It is all recorded and is available even now and will be there forever. Jesus is the only God who died on the cross to save mankind from sin. No other God has done this; instead all other gods will ask our life as a sacrifice for our own sins. This is the reason for me as well as all the other Christians to believe in Jesus.

  These facts are more than sufficient to prove that Jesus is the only trueGod.”
   Though Urban knew that all that was stated by his daughter was true, still his inherent hard heartedness made him scold his daughter as much as he can. Still since he loved his daughter a lot and also since he knew clearly that it is very difficult to change his daughters mind easily, he decided to be calm and wait for the right opportunity to bring her back to his path. So he dressed her up with the richest clothes and adorned her with costly ornaments and kept her in a separate room. He filled the entire room with jewels and costly articles. He further kept the golden idols of his deities all over the room. He did all this thinking that since his daughter has just entered her youth period; she will be attracted with these jewels, costly articles and clothes. This is natural for any young girl of the
age of Christina to be attracted by these things.

  It seemed that his plan worked. Christina dressed herself with the richest clothes and jewels her father had given her and came round the palace. This gave the hope to Urban that his daughter has changed her mind and he has won her to his side. So he gave freedom to Christina for a few days.
  But after those few days Urban had to face something which he did not even dream of. All the jewels which were kept in her room vanished away. Not a single ornament was left over. Similarly all the costly articles which were kept in her room vanished away. Nothing was left and the room was empty. Even all those rich clothes which she was wearing were not to
be seen.

 When Urban came to see his daughter, he was deeply worried
to know that all these things had vanished. So he called his daughter and asked her, “My dear child, what happened? Why did you hide this from me? You should have told me about this earlier. At least now tell me what had happened? What happened to all the riches I had given you?” Christina replied, “Dear dad, all the riches are safe. No one has stolen them or they have not vanished away. I have given them to the poor and needy. I did this on my own interest. Since you gave all these riches for my own personal use, I used it the way it would give
me happiness. I gave away everything to the poor Christian people.”
   Not knowing what to say, Urban looked at his daughter and said, “my dear child, do you know how much of efforts I had taken over the years to earn all these riches? You have just like that wasted everything. Not only the riches, have you wasted all my energy, efforts and the time I took to earn them.” Christina was not sensitive to all these words of her father.      She replied stating, “My dear father, why don’t you call me as Christina? That is the name my bridegroom has kept for
me.”

    These words of Christina drove Urban into a rage and he shouted stating, “Jesus is my deadly enemy and do you expect me to call you by the name he has given you? That is the least thing I would do in my life. How dare you tell your own father that you are married without anyone’s knowledge? Are you not ashamed? From where did you get this courage? All the riches I had saved for your marriage, you have now wasted and added to that you say that you are already married. This is the heights of my patience. I was so patient to you since you are my
daughter. The moment you are so stubborn that you are married to my enemy, and then you too are my enemy. You have paid me well for giving you enough of freedom. You have taught me a good lesson. If you had to wish for any one in my family as your bridegroom, I would have got you married without any second thought. But you have brought me this grate disgrace by marrying that Jesus, whom I hate to the core. How could you do this? How did you do this? I will never accept this marriage
and I will never forgive you and that Jesus.  Softness will not work with you anymore. I will make you deny Jesus and fall at my feet stating that you have left Jesus once for all. You have seen me as your loving father. Hence forth you will see me as the great tyrant Urban.” So saying he called his guards and commanded them to arrest Christina and put her in prison.
   Before leaving Christina spoke up saying, “Dear father, I would like to remind you one thing. All the riches I had given to the Christians are those that you took away unjustly from them. It actually belongs to them. Have I not done the right and just act? A few minutes back you said that you were my loving father, but do you know the actual meaning of love? Do you know what love is? If you don’t, then learn it from my Lord Jesus.   Jesus said, ‘Truly I tell you whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for
me. And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these
little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.’ So whether to accept me and my beloved Jesus Christ is left up to your choice. But you can never separate me from my dear Lord Jesus. Don’t even try to.”

  So started the war between the father and the child, between good and evil, between truth and lie…………
Christina’s father, who so loved his daughter, completely changed his attitude towards her and spoke so cruelly stating, “You have not betrayed me, but you have betrayed all our gods. So, all the curse of our gods will be on you. Let the wrath of our gods come upon you. Guards! Guards! Make her naked and whip her from head to foot so that her skin is peeled off.

  The worst thing a father could do to his daughter; this tyrant did to his child. Christina was pushed into this pitiable state. She was whipped and blood gushed out of her body. Her soft and tender skin was peeled off and she stood in a pool of blood.
But her father was not satisfied on seeing this. He further commanded the guards to take sharp iron hooks and pierce them to her breasts and thereby make the wounds even bigger and painful. So saying he left the place stating that he would come and proceed further the next day.
   The next day Urban came to see his daughter. He took a note of her body and when he saw that there were few places in her body which were not wounded he became very angry and commanded the guards to use an iron comb and peel of the skin from head to foot. Christina’s skin was peeled off in the most painful manner. Most of the soldiers in the prison could not bear to see this injustice.

  But they were surprised to see her face, fresh as a flower which has not lost its glow, amidst all that pain. There was no trace of pain or suffering on her face. She happily endured all these sufferings. Instead she murmured the names and hymns of Jesus.  Urban who noticed this said, “Oh it is not painful for you….. Is it? I will make it pain for you. Guards, tear
her flesh up to the time she shouts out in pain. Let my ears hear that cry of agony.”

   The punishment was executed as it was commanded, but
Christina did not utter a single word of pain. Jesus Christ had given her the power to resist and withstand pain and suffering. As it is said, even if a mother forgets her child I will not forget you, the Lord was gracious to her even if her earthly father was not. That night an angel encountered Christina and healed her completely.

   The angel told her, “Christy, the bride of Christ! The Lord delights in you. Tomorrow you will have to face even more serious trials. But do not fear the almighty God is with you.” So saying the angel disappeared.
  The next day Urban was informed at the entrance of the prison that Christina was healed in a miraculous way the night before.   Urban could not believe this and when he saw her he said, “All your magical powers which healed you will not work anymore. You are sure to meet death today. This wheel is specially made for you. This will take you to the world of the dead. Guards, tie her up naked on the outer rim of the wheel.”

    So Christina was made naked and tied to the wheel. This is
the worst punishment a child could get from her father, to be tied naked in front of her own father. Christina’s body was rubbed with a special kind of oil which could easily catch fire. The wheel was then set on fire and rotated such that as the wheel rotates Christina’s body will be burnt in fire. But fire could not harm her body. She was not at all burnt by fire. God protected her from the burns of fire.
   Christina continued to praise God loudly. All the soldiers who executed this punishment wept bitterly seeing this condition of their dear princess. But nothing could mover the hard heart of her father. This punishment went on up to evening, but nothing happened to Christina.
   That night Christina was pushed into a dark underground cell in prison. A huge stone was tied to her neck and she was made to stand on top of the stone. Christina was made to stand on top of that stone that whole night.

      Thus the foot prints of Christina were placed on the stone. This stone is still available to testify the incident in

Christina’s life. Though Urban saw with his own eyes, that fire could not harm his daughter, his heart never changed. His crooked mind kept on working out various ways of tormenting Christina. He failed to realize the greatness and might of Lord Jesus Christ. So he ordered Christina to come out of the deep dark cell carrying the stone in her hands. He arranged for a boat and made her sit on that boat along with that huge stone.

       He said, “Farewell dear lady! I think this is our
last meeting.” So saying he made her to sink along with the stone in a deep lake in Bolzano city. The punishment was executed as it was commanded. The soldiers took her to the deepest part of the lake and immersed her into the lake along with the stone.

    Christina was drowned. But God is not an unjust God. He sent his angel who met Christina in the prison the night before. The angel took Christina out of the lake and kept her secretly in a place up to evening. That night Christina met her father in his bedroom. She spoke to him saying,

“Father, all your efforts to separate me from my Lord Jesus Christ will not be fruitful. Nothing can separate me from the love of Christ. Do not try any further. You will end up only in failure. Did you not see with your own eyes the power and might of Jesus amidst all that torments you made me undergo? Though you are my father, you treated me as your deadly enemy, but my Lord Jesus kept up his promise to safeguard me from all the disasters. Even today you immersed me into the lake with the stone around my neck.

   Can’t you see that I am standing in front of you without any single damage? That stone is still there near the lake. You can take a look at it if you want. Why do you still cling on to your old beliefs? Throw away your rotten thoughts and accept the salvation of Christ. It is not too late father; Jesus is ready to accept you right now. Come to him, will you?”
   But her father’s reply clearly indicated that all that she spoke did not even touch her father’s ears. His heart was still hard and he said, “Oh you are dead yet, is it? You must be a fool to think I will surrender to your Jesus Christ. Have this nonsense speech with your foolish Christians. You can never change my mind. All your magic or power will not work in front of my great god Jupiter. I will surely kill you. Just because you escaped so far does not mean I have failed.
    Tomorrow you will surrender before my God or you will lose your life. Be prepared. Soldiers take this girl and put her in prison. Tomorrow will be the last day of her life.” Christina was put in prison.

   That night her father was all alone in his bed room stammering and blabbering. He said the following words, “almighty God Jupiter, why are you still silent? Why don’t you throw that powerful weapon in your hands at Jesus and kill him once for all? Why do you hesitate to do this? Come one use that weapon on Jesus right now…. Go ahead and do it….. Do it…. Do it….” He kept on shouting these words in his sleep.
Those were his last words…. That was his last sleep…. He slept once for all…no one could wake him up the next morning. His face was weird and he had vomited blood and thus had met a very cruel death.
    When Christina heard of her father’s cruel death she felt sorry for him. She loved him with the true love of a daughter. She cried bitterly stating, “Oh my dear father….. You met such a cruel death. If you had surrendered your life to Jesus, you would not have met such kind of a death. You refused the love, grace and power of Jesus Christ. You did not realize his forgiveness and thus you have lost your sold dear father. You had the whole world in your hand but now you have lost your soul. You soul is no longer with God. What is the use of all that you had when you were alive on this earth? You are now
in hell for eternity. My heart could not bear to think of this dear father.” So saying, she cried bitterly over her father’s death.

   She thought all her torments have come to an end with the end of her father’s life. But it was not. She had worse times ahead of her. Urban was succeeded by another tyrant. His name was Dio. He was a very cruel and cunning man. He attacked the Christians for his selfish motives and in this he was worse than Urban. Thus he did not spare Christina. Just because Christina was a Christian, he sent her to prison. The next day he started his enquiry.

   Christina was brought before Dio. He saw her and said, “Oh so you are Christina, the girl who cursed her own father to death. Am I right?” Christina was wise enough to answer this silly question saying, “Why do you waste your time in unnecessary questions? What is it that you want from me?” with
a cunning smile on his face Dio said, “Oh Christina, fair lady. Your beauty is beyond words can describe. Anyone would fall for your beauty and your wisdom exceeds your beauty too. But I am surprised why you hate this world and all that is in it. You can marry a handsome young man and enjoy your life. But why do you cling on to that dead Jesus? Has he possessed you like a ghost? I don’t understand why and how these Christians are so dedicated to him. Can you give me an answer?”
   Christina who could clearly understand the cunningness in his speech said, “I warn you governor. Mind your words. I know the hidden meaning in your speech. You have decided to argue with me and not to accept Christ. As it is said, ‘do not throw pearls to swine’ I don’t want to tell anything about Christ to you. Go on and do what you intend to do with me. Already my father has failed in this act and now you can go on and give a try. Come on and go ahead.”

  Dio gave a sarcastic smile and said, “I am bound by your beauty which glows when you’re angry. But don’t think I will be easy going with you all the time. I was kind to you to show the world that I am not a tyrant but I give enough of chance to make you understand your fault. I am not like your father young girl. I will give you even worse punishments so that you will
surrender to me at all cost. Still I give you a chance, accept your defeat and ask pardon and I will forgive you. Go ahead and worship the gods of our forefathers.”
   “You must be an insolent fool to say this. Do you think that I will surrender to your words? I did not obey my own father’s orders to worship the ancestral gods. I did not ask pardon nor did I ask him to spare my life. I don’t have willingness to live this earthly life. My home is in heaven. I am a citizen of heaven. So don’t expect me to ask your pardon. Take away those foolish thoughts off your mind” said Christina.

   Governor Dio could not tolerate to note that a twelve year
old girl has insulted him in front of the public. So in great fury he said, “I will show you who I am. You will repent for all that you have said so far. Guards, take her and throw her into the boiling oil pan.”
  His command was immediately executed. A huge oil pan was brought and oil and tar were heated. Once it was boiling, Christina was brought by the soldiers to be thrown into it. At that time Christina said, “How nice, now I remember that a year ago, when I was baptized, this was exactly how I was immersed in water.” Then she drew the symbol of the cross on herself and the oil pan and prayed, “Dear Lord Jesus Christ, you are my hiding place, my fortress and my rock. Let it be done unto me as per your will.” Then the soldiers threw her into the boiling oil
pan. The fire was kindled and it blazed fiercely. No one knew what was happening inside the boiling oil pan. But the fire and oil which splashed on the soldiers, who stood beside it, killed them.

    The fire spread out to the nearby soldiers who stood there and killed them also. Once the flames were put out, people could see Christina, standing in the middle of the pan without any single damage and praying loudly. Thus the people shouted saying, “Long live Christina. The God of Christina is the only true God. Long live the God of Christina.” Dio put down his head in shame. Even the dress of Christina was not burnt by the fire and she was completely protected by Jesus Christ. When Dio saw the people welcome Christina with these wishes, it aroused his anger.

   He arrested all those who supported Christina and put them in prison. He also arrested Christina and sent her once again to prison.
  The next day the statue of God Apollo was kept in the middle of an open arena. A lot of people gathered in the arena and were seated on the stone benches. Governor Dio was seated on his throne. A lot of Christians were made to stand in the middle of the arena. Their faith was tested by asking them to deny Christ and worship God Apollo. If they refused to do so, they will be immediately offered as sacrifice to the God Apollo. Almost all the Christians who were brought there on that day were beheaded since they refused to deny Jesus Christ.
   Christina was the last in the line. Once Christina was brought there the crowd shouted in joy and excitement. Dio looked at Christina and said, “Did you see the fate of all those Christians who went before you? Are you afraid? It is still not late. You can deny Jesus and accept Apollo and the next moment you will be set free. What do you say? Isn’t this a good idea?”    Christina’s face glowed with anger and she said, “Keep that foolish idea of yours with you. I don’t need any of your mercy or sympathy. I could see all those who were put to death
before me stand in front of Jesus right now. Jesus is not placing the priceless crown on their heads for this brave act of theirs. You should have spiritual eyes to see these things. It is certainly not possible for you since your natural eyes are shut towards the proven truth that Jesus Christ is the only true God. I am not at all afraid. If anyone is to be afraid at this point of time is you’re so called great God Apollo. Apollo is certainly afraid that is anyone comes to know of its true nature they will run away and never turn back to it.
  It is the demon who is hiding inside that Apollo statue that is afraid. Right now I command in the matchless name of Lord Jesus Christ, you demon who is hiding inside this statue Apollo, come out and show this world who you are. You Satan, who is hiding inside this naked statue, come out and show us who you are. Are you still scared? Don’t you have the guts to face me who am commanding you in the name of Lord Jesus Christ? Are you not ashamed of standing naked in front of this crowd? In the name of Lord Jesus Christ, I command you to be demolished right now.”
  So saying she drew the sign of the cross on the statue and something unbelievable happened. The statue got and looked that it was naked. It gave a sudden turn and hence the basement was broken. The statue fell down and broke to pieces. The people who were watching this were scared and started to run to and fro in great amazement.

   Suddenly a thunder struck the governor Dio and killed him. He met his death on that ground itself. Another amazing thing happened. The dust which came from the statue which fell down to pieces, rose up high in the air turning out into a dark smoke cloud. That cloud then turned out into a fierce giant snake, spitting fire and it rose up into the sky and vanished. All those who watched these incidents shouted outsaying,

   “Long live Christina! Long live Christina! Your god is the
only true god.” All that which took place on that day, the giant snake which vanished in the sky, the fall of the great statue Apollo and the death of Dio, made a deep impact in the minds and heart of the people gathered there. Also the greatness of Lord Jesus Christ and the holiness of Christina made a deep impact in the hearts of the people, that many of them went home and took out all the idols in their homes and broke them on the roads.   They accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord.
   Everything went on well up to the time of the arrival of the next governor.
After some days a new governor took charge of Tuscany. His name was Julian and he too was a tyrant who hated Christians. Though he was a little scared to note the death of the governors who preceded him, still he tried to behave as a governor, not letting anyone to find out his fear. He did not want to give up in front of the Christians.

    So he behaved worse than governors who were there earlier. So once again the torments began. Once again Christina was arrested and put in prison. Julian who wanted to punish Christina in the worse way, commanded her to be put into a blazing fire filled pit.

  Christina prayed to her Lord Jesus Christ and drew the sing of the cross on the fire filled pit and on her and got into the pit. She stayed in the blazing fire pit for five days. She was singing hymns and praises to Lord Jesus Christ for those five days. Fire could not do anything to her. Fear gripped the
heart of the governor and so he commanded her to be taken out.     But a magician fanned the fire of the governor’s heart with his ideas.

   He said that this Christina was a great magician and only with the power of her magic she was able to survive all these trials. He also said that he could win her with his magical powers if she was handed over to him. So the governor, who believed the statement of this magician, put Christina in a separate cell. The magician, with his magical powers, sent lots of highly poisonous snakes and scorpions into her cell.

   But nothing could harm her and Christina won them with the power of her prayers. As Jesus promised that anyone who believes in him, if they pick up snakes or drink any poison, they will not be harmed; Christina was not harmed by any of those poisonous creatures.
   The magician who found out that Christina has won this by the power of her prayer, cut off her tongue. But still Christina continued to sing praises to Jesus Christ. But she now prayed to her bridegroom stating that she has lost interest in this earthly life and asked Him to take her to be with Him forever. Jesus granted her wish.

   So Christina was tied to a wooden post in kept in the middle of an open arena. The governor commanded Christina to be killed by shooting arrows at her. Many arrows struck her body and one arrow pierced her heart, the heart that loved and lived for Christ. Blood gushed out of her heart and she fainted and fell down. Her soul reached heaven into the hands of Jesus
Christ. Jesus Christ accepted her to eternal life and crowned her for her witness on earth.
    This happened on 24th July, 300 BC. Three governors, including her father, tried their best and failed in their attempt to destroy the faith of Christina.

  The Roman Catholic Church accepted Christina as one of the saints and awarded her the title of saint.  The Christians kept the body of Christina inside a marble box and buried it. The stone on which her footprints were engraved was buried along with her. This grave which had all the details of her was later excavated and is still available in Balsena, Tuscany.
  In 1263 BC, a priest from Prague, was offering mass at the altar, located near the grave of Christina, where the stone with her foot prints on it was kept. As the mass was going on he had a doubt in his mind whether Jesus is truly present in his heavenly body in the communion served.

   As he raised the bread in his hand, blood gushed out from the bread and ran down his hands, his dress, and the altar

clothes and down the marble altar. That altar and the cloth on which the blood of Jesus flowed are still available. This miracle added even more glory to the church of Christina. All the pilgrims who visit this church do not miss her grave, the stone with her foot prints and the cloth with the blood stains of Jesus. The marble stone which was on the altar was later taken and kept in the church of Holy Communion which is located in Ovido. Few of the relics of Christina are kept in Palermo, in Sicily and her skull is kept in the city of Milan.
If the world stood against you to torment and persecute you
If the crowd stood all around you, yet not for you
If you were asked to worship the gods which were false and fake, and
If you boldly refused to do it, even though your life was at stake
If you were deprived of your clothes and your body was whipped and torn
If the Lord stood beside you and healed you before it was dawn
If you could stand firm on the stone and even more firm in your love
If you could not get drowned but come out of water with help from above
If neither fire nor venom could take away your life
If you could still sing praises even if your tongue was cut off with a knife
If the arrow could kill your heart but not your love for God
Then you are sure to receive the eternal life ad crown as Gods great reward. !!!!!!!!!!
Christina has received this reward and the Lord has given each one of the same chance to take part in the eternal life with Him.

 Dear saint Christina… pray for us that we too may receive this great reward of eternal life from our loving God Jesus Christ.

The story of saint Febronia

                                         The story of saint Febronia

    The ceiling of the beautiful Cathedral located in Melapudur, Trichy is adorned with the painting of countless number of martyrs and their heroic death. Anyone who has a look at these painting will have a deep impact in their hearts and sure they will shed tears, saluting the bravery and love, these young saints had for Christ. One of the saints depicted in these paintings is Saint Febronia. Her life and method of persecution, the torture she underwent is beyond words could explain. This made a deep impact in my heart and I am sure the readers too will be able to experience the pulse of this incident. The persecution she suffered under Diocletian, her brave answers to this tyrant emperor, all stand as a role model for the nuns who have offered their lives for Christ. This is the reason the Roman Catholic Church has the statue of Febronia, placed among the statues of 140 saints, at the entrance of the Vatican church in Rome. With this introduction of this young saint, we will now move on to the story.

280 BC - Rome

Diocletian was the emperor of Rome during 280 BC. Though he was a Christian by birth, he turned out to be a tyrant very soon. He hated God just for his post as a ruler and became the handmaid of Satan. He killed thousands of innocent people during his reign. He forbids Christianity in all the provinces which were under his control. He destroyed the Christian monasteries and convents.

   During this situation, there was a place outside Rome which was ruled by king Anthimo. He had a son, Lysimachus, at the age of five. One day Anthimo called his son and taught him to fight with the sword. During this training, one of the slaves dropped his sword by accident. Immediately Anthimo commanded his son Lysimachus, “Lysimachus, come on, this is a good chance, take your sword and cut off the head of that slave who has lost the fight. This is the mark of bravery! The winner should kill the looser. Don’t panic, come on go ahead and cut off his neck……” 

   But Lysimachus did not do as his father commanded. Instead he did not kill the slave, but as a sign of his victory, he placed his sword on the slave’s head. He gave his hand and helped the slave to get up. Anthimo’s heart was worried regarding this incident. Once the game was over, he called his son and hugged him and kissed him. He asked his son, “My son, did I not tell you to cut off his head? Then why did you disobey my order?”

    Lysimachus replied calmly, “Dear father, the looser is not our enemy, he is our slave. Moreover he is a brave soldier. If I had to fight with him in the true way, I am sure that I would not have won the fight. This is just a game, and he too missed his sword accidently just making me win the fight. He was actually encouraging me in this way. Why should I punish him for this act? Do you expect me to take his life for this petty issue? Above all I am not ready to lose such a great and brave soldier.” 

   Anthimo replied, “My dear son, you disobeyed me. First understand that this is a mistake and fault on your side.  Since you are still young and also since you are my son, I forgive you this time. You have to be bound by me, my orders. First come obedience and only then you can think of your own likes and dislikes. Understood? Do not repeat this hereafter.”

   That night Lysimachus was lying on his mother’s lap and describing that day’s events. He told her about the sword fight and all that happened. His mother was a secret Christian. So she told her son, “my dear son Lysimachus! Army is different and life is different. Since you are a prince, you have to get yourself equipped with the army techniques. This will be of great help to you when you become a king. But do not forget to have sympathy in your heart. It is human to do mistakes. So you should have the hart to forgive and forget. Only then God will forgive all your mistakes. Do not kill anyone unnecessarily. Especially do not harm women, old people, priests and nuns. Do not trouble them in any way. Instead help them in all possible ways for they take care of the orphans and needy. Follow this all through your life.”

  During the same time, in the northern part of Mesopotamia was the place called Nisibis. There was a convent in Nisibis and Bryena was its head. She had a brother who came to her convent one day seeking refuge. He told her the he and his family could not survive since the government was against Christians. So he requested her to accommodate his wife and two year old daughter in the convent. He was ready to go elsewhere and take care of his living and once the situation was fine he will return and take them back with him. But Bryena could not accommodate his wife, since as per the rules of the convent only unmarried; virgins are allowed to stay there. So she comforted her brother and said, “as per the convent rules, I can’t accommodate your wife, but I will take care of your two year old daughter Febronia. May our Lord be with you and guide you.” So her brother and his wife left Febronia under the care of her aunt Bryena and took leave.

Twenty years later to the above mentioned incidents………..

303 BC – Rome

Anthimo was on his death bed. He called his brother Selenos and his son Lysimachus and said, “Selinos, I am nearing my death. I give my son Lysimachus in your hands. Treat him as your son and take care of him hence forth in my place. I have arranged for his marriage with the daughter of our senator, Pospour. After my death, introduce my son to our king Diocletian and make him take over my position. I have already discussed this with our king Diocletian and he has also agreed for the same. Promise me that you will complete these entire tasks on my behalf. Will you do this for me?” 

   Selenos caught hold of his brothers hand and said, “Dear brother do not worry. I will complete all that you have told me. I swear on out deity Jupiter that I will fulfill all your desires.” Now Anthimo called his son Lysimachus and said, “My dear son, I am nearing my death and hence forth your days as a king has begun. You should keep up the name and fame of our family. I have taught you enough of politics and how to be a king. Do not forget my teachings. Don’t follow the Christian philosophies of forgive and forget policy. This policy will never help you as a king. If you have identified your enemy, kill him even though he is still far away. Otherwise you will have to lose your kingdom, your family and yourself. My brother Selenos is well versed in all these tactics. He has a thorough knowledge of this province and this world as a whole. You have to treat him in the same way you would treat me and obey his commands. Your actions should please our king Diocletian and my brother Selenos. Promise me that you will abide by all that I told you just now.” So saying he stretched out his hands to Lysimachus and he too promised to abide by all that his father had told him.

  Three days later, Anthimo died. Once the rituals were completed, King Diocletian sent for Lysimachus and Selenos asking them to come and meet him. Once they met, Diocletian started his interview with them. “Young man, are you Lysimachus? Your appearance has the traces of your father. But I heard that your character is like your mother. Is it true? Your mother is an innocent woman who speaks of forgiveness and righteousness. But I hope you will not be like her but you will be like your father. Am I right? Your father has chosen the right person to guide you. Am I right Selenos?” asked the king. 

   Selenos, who was waiting for an opportunity to speak up immediately, fell down at the feet of Diocletian and said, “I am grateful to be remembered by you.” 

 once again Diocletian spoke stating, “Lysimachus I have also heard of your bravery. You excel in fighting with swords. Is it? A true warrior should be like that. But you should give up the habit of forgiving your enemies. You should do away with your enemies and that is a way an efficient ruler should be. Haven’t your father taught you all this? Come on speak up Lysimachus.”

  Selenos spoke instead and said, “Great king, all that you have heard about my son Lysimachus is true. He is a true and brave warrior. Since he is still young, he is hesitant to speak up in your presence.” Diocletian said, “Is it so? Then I think he will be readily willing to talk to our senator Posporus and his daughter. Am I right?”, so saying he laughed aloud. 

  Selenos used this opportunity and stated the topic stating, “Your highness, what you said is true. We have already decided our senator’s daughter to be given in marriage to Lysimachus. So I request you to proceed further in getting them married. This was the wish of my brother and Lysimachus’s father.”

Diocletian replied, “I will definitely do this Selenos. But before that, I have a great responsibility to be completed by you. I want to avenge the insult I had at Antioch. The king of Persia, Basha, failed to respect me and hence many times I had to wage war against his kingdom. Many time I lost the battle and sometimes I won the battle. At last Basha surrendered to me. He came to me with rich gifts as a peace offering and sought peace between both the provinces. But I am not contended with this. I sought the roman gods in Antioch and asked them to foretell the future and I was startled with what they said. The chief apostle of Jesus Christ is Peter. He set the first Christian headquarters in Antioch. Post this incident only all the followers of Jesus were called as Christians. From that day onwards, all the roman gods in Antioch lost their powers. So during the times when the roman gods were powerless, I lost the battle with king Basha. But I became aware. So I commanded the Christian monasteries and convents to be demolished. When this was done, our roman gods got back their powers. Once they got back their powers I won the battle. At the end of the war, Basha surrendered to me. But in order to gain complete victory, I have to merge the entire Persian kingdom with our kingdom and up to the time I achieve this I will not rest. When I was searching the right person to complete this task, I was reminded of you. As I had already promised your father, I will give you his position. Also I am going to send you to Persia as my representative and fulfill the assignments I give you. Once you complete your assignments and return, I will get you married to the girl whom we have already decided for you.”

  Selenos replied, “My Lord, we will not rest up to the time we complete the task you have entrusted to us. But I request you to get these two young hearts Lysimachus and the senator’s daughter married at the earliest.” 

  This aroused the anger of Diocletian and he said angrily, “Selenos, I know what I should do. You obey my orders immediately. Take as many soldiers as you require and move on at once to Antioch. Start from Antioch and spread all over Syria. I hate the Christians more than king Basha. Do not spare any Christian. Kill all the Christians whether they are ordinary people, or priests, or nuns, or children or anyone under the name of Christians. Also demolish all the churches, monasteries, convents and even the houses of Christians. Establish our roman empire on the eastern parts and return to me and I will fulfill all that I promised you.” So saying he left the place hastily and his wife received him with tears in her eyes and gave him wine to calm down his anger.

  Selenos precede further to complete the orders of the emperor. Lysimachus sat down in the ship with the title of Roman governor. His relative Primus also accompanied him in his journey. Lysimachus also appointed one of his trustworthy slaves as his bodyguard. In order to prevent Lysimachus from getting into any kind of activity against the Kings orders, Selenos had appointed spies to keep watch on Lysimachus and his activities. So Selenos was the active person behind Lysimachus. 

  Lysimachus was silent keeping in mind his promise to his dead father, to obey and abide by the commands of his uncle Selenos. But Lysimachus did not forget the teachings of his mother and his promise to her. He planned along with Primus and helped the Christians to escape from the attack of the roman soldiers.  But if any Christian was caught unknowingly, they had to undergo severe punishment. In this way thousands of Christians were killed all over Syria. Since the number was so huge, they did not have place to bury the dead people and the dead Christian bodies lay on the streets being eaten by dogs and wolves.

  Having done his hunting effectively in Syria, Selenos now turned his attention towards Mesopotamia which was also called as Babylon (now it is called as Iraq). This information was passed on secretly to all the Christians in the city and hence they all escaped leaved the city deserted. Selenos tried to find out the culprit who gave a warning to the people before hand but he was not able to find out the black sheep. The cities of Turkey and Armina were located in the northern part of Babylon. In the eastern part of Babylon was Persia.   Nisibis was a small town which was located at the junction of Turkey, Armania and Persia. There was a convent in Nisibis. The head of this convent was Bryena and Thomais was her helper who was of the same age as of Bryena.  Apart from these old ladies, there were fifty young nuns in the convent who were under the control of Bryena. She had enough time to attend to the needs of all the nuns in the convent. Of these fifty nuns, Bryena showed special attention to two of them. She often said, “Though there are fifty lilies in the garden of our Lord, still these two nuns are the special lilies whom the Lord desires the most.”

  These two special lilies were Rochala who was of the age of twenty five and Febronia who was of the age of twenty. Of these two nuns, the beauty of Febronia was beyond description and would capture the attention of anyone who saw her. All the other nuns were proud to talk to and move with Febronia. The great qualities of love and helping tendency of Febronia, made anyone surrender to her. This was a reason the head of the convent used to keep Febronia away from every one most of the times.

“Oh Dear Febronia!

Fair as a lily, pure and tender as dove,

Charming as a rose emitting the fragrance of love,

Like the river waters that sparkle in the noonday sun

Your face glows with the Lords presence our dear little nun

Your humility and kindness, care and love,

Are unique gifts of the Lord from heaven above!

The beauty of your soul radiates signs of purity,

Your love for God and submission to his will proves your true virginity

Oh Matchless beauty under the sky so blue

Gods great creation so true………”

Though Bryena felt proud of the matchless beauty of Febronia, still she feared that this great beauty could put Febronia in great danger. She feared that this beauty would make Febronia proud. Being concerned about her niece’s salvation, she assigned her a stricter form of life than the other nuns. After all she was brought up under her care from the age of two and hence she prayed to God, “Lord have mercy on her. Help her to stand firm in your love.” 

  According to their convent rule, the nuns put aside all their other duties on Fridays and spent the whole day in prayer and the reading of the Holy Scripture. The nuns used to take turns in prayer and reading the bible. But when Febronia read the Holy Scripture, it was a pleasant experience. The sweetness in her voice and her voice modulation while reading the Holy Scripture brings heaven on earth. It was such a spiritual experience. Febronia’s fame spread to the world outside the convent also. Many young ladies and children used to come to the convent on Fridays and Sundays to listen to Febronia reading the Bible. Even though the outsiders allowed inside the convent were only ladies and children, no one was allowed to see or talk in person with Febronia. Febronia used to stand behind a screen and read out the Scripture verses. Still no one was able to hinder her fame from being spread all over the country. 

  One of the daughters of a senator wished to meet Febronia in person and get her blessings. This young lady was of the age of twenty and she was a pagan. She was a widow and her name was Hieria. She lost her husband within six months of her married life. The sorrow of her husband’s loss made Hieria hate this world and all the worldly pleasures. Her parents decided to get her married to another person out of the love they had on their daughter. But Hieria refused remarriage.

  She thought that by meeting Febronia and developing a good relationship with her, she will be able to overcome her sorrow. So she met Bryena, the head of the convent, shared her tale of sorrow and asked her permission to meet Febronia. Bryena also accepted her request and asked Hieria to put on the nuns garments since only then Febronia would speak to her (Febronia never saw or spoke in person to any outsiders). 

  When Hieria wore the black garments, she could feel a different presence all over her body. She met Febronia for the first time. Being taken up by the exceeding beauty of Febronia, she said, “Febronia looks like Absaras.” Febronia approached Hieria and fell down at her feet in respect. Though such practice was new to Hieria, still she lifted up Febronia and embraced her with sisterly love and affection. She thought Febronia should have surely been her sister in her previous birth and said, “Febronia! My sister” Febronia replied, “Yes dear sister, we are sisters in this birth too….. Where do you come from?”Hieria replied, “I am coming from a far off place. I wanted to meet you in person. So I got the permission from my convent head and also from your convent head and thus I got this precious opportunity to meet you.”

   As they were talking, the bell rang for the evening worship. Every one entered the church to gather for worship. It was an extraordinary worship. The songs which were being sung and the Holy Scripture verses brought down the presence of the Lord from heaven to the church where the worship was being conducted. The glory of the Lord surrounded the place and only at the sound of the bell for dinner, the nuns realized that evening had passed and night had crept in. Febronia and Hieria quickly finished their dinner and returned to their room. That night these two young ladies did not sleep.

    Instead Febronia was reading the Holy Scripture verses and Hieria was listening to it. They never felt tired or drowsy. Hieria felt that the life in that convent is like life in heaven. She felt sorry about the life she had lived so far. It was dawn and still these two young ladies were awake. When Bryena saw this she said, “Did you ladies not sleep the whole night? It is already a long time you are here Hieria. Your convent head must be waiting for your return. So take leave now and come back later.” So saying she bid good bye to Hieria. But Hieria had no wish to leave Febronia and that convent. Any way she had to leave, but she never had a chance to meet Febronia later.

  That day dawned with unpleasant and startling news. The calling bell rang and Thomais attended the visitor at the entrance. A priest was standing at the entrance and passed on important information hastily. He said, “Thomais, urgent news. Our city has been captured by Lysimachus and his uncle Selenos. These people massacred thousands of Christians all over Syria and have now come here in search of Christians. So I have come here to inform you to leave this convent as early as possible and run for your lives.” So saying he ran and disappeared. 

   This information shook the entire convent and many of the nuns screamed in fear of death. Febronia was down with fever at this time. Two groups gathered, one group was with the aim of escaping from the hands of those tyrants and the other group decided to die as witnesses of Christ. Under the leadership of Ethireen a group came to Bryena. Bryena asked Ethireea, “What have you decided?” She replied, “We do not have the strength to fight against these cruel men of Satan. So we have decided to leave this convent and hide our selves. So please do close down this convent and come along with us. Once the situation comes back to normal, we can return to the convent and continue our life for Christ.” 

   Bryena replied, “I am not a coward. At the same time I will not object your wish. You are free to do as you wish. All those who want to leave this convent are free to leave. All those who want to live for Christ and give up their life for Christ and bear witness for him can remain here with me. I do not compel any one. It should be from each ones heart.” For this Ethireen replied, “I do accept all that you say. But at this age it will be possible for you to live for Christ and die for him. But do think of these fifty beautiful young virgins in this convent. Do you know what will happen to them if they get caught in the hands of these cruel Roman soldiers? This is the reason for my decision of leaving the convent. I expected you to accept this decision of ours” Bryena replied, “Anyone who wishes to leave can leave. But the two young ladies whom I consider above everything in this convent, Rochala and Febronia will stand with me and die as witness for Christ. Lord Jesus Christ will never forsake them. He will surely place them in his garden as his precious lilies.”    Rochala never spoke anything against these words of Bryena. But as evening drew close, she came up to Bryena and said, “I have decided to leave with the other nuns and run for my life.”

   Febronia was shocked at this statement of her. She understood that all the other nuns considered their life more than anything else. When it comes to expressing true love for Christ, people often think of their own convenience and comfort. Bryena could not believe her ears and said, “Rochala, I am surprised that you too have lost faith in the almighty! I expected you to stand for Christ till the end……” But Rochala replied, “I am sorry mam” After this she left the convent and was not to be seen. Bryena realized her stupidity in trusting people to this extent.

  At this time Febronia, who was down with fever came and said, “My dear mother, I will never desert you nor will I lose my faith in Christ. Though so many of them have left to seek their own self pleasure and safety, I will never leave. I have offered up my virginity to Christ. We lived together and so we will die together for Christ and we will go up to heaven together.” 

   At this statement Thomai said, “Oh please do not leave me when you go to heaven. Take me also with you. Why did you forget me dear?” all the three nuns hugged each other in joy. Febronia asked, “Who was the nun who came to meet me yesterday? Her love has captured my heart. When she left she said that ‘If it is the will of God we shall die together for Christ. I pray to God to grant us this privilege’” Bryena was surprised at this statement and said, “Oh did she say so. 

   My dear Febronia, she is not a nun. She is a married woman. She lost her husband during the very early days of her married life and so she lost interest in life on the whole. She is the daughter of our senator. Though her parents are interested to get her married once again, she refuses the same. She sought the peace of being with you and so I too agreed. I thought it would be handy to have some known people in the government official side. But I am surprised that the girl who just came yesterday is ready to die for Christ, where as those who had lived so many years for Christ are now running to save their lives. But we have to wait and see the will of God in the life of this girl Hieria for God would not have sent her to meet you without a purpose.”

   Febronia listened to these words silently. Bryena continued and said, “Febronia, I was the one who brought you up since you were two years old. Now listen to me carefully. This life on earth is uncertain and will come to an end one day. But the life after death is eternity in heaven with Christ our Lord. We are on the verge of death and I think tomorrow we may be out to death. Time has come near. I remind you of a similar incident which took place in Syria where many Christian men, women and children were killed. 

  In this incident, two young ladies by name Lubey and Leonida were also killed. Lubey was beheaded and Leonida was thrown into fire. Along with these young ladies a mother and her daughter were also killed which is very remarkable. The girl was twelve years of age and her name was Ethirobia. Ethirobia was sentenced to be killed by shooting arrows at her. Once she received this death sentence, the judge who gave this sentence asked her to run for her life. Since she was too small to understand what was going on she started to run.

    Seeing this her mother shouted at her saying, “Stop Ethirobia. They are trying to fool you. They will kill you at all cost. But before that they want to prove that you are a coward. So my dear daughter, show them that you are a brave girl. Stop where you are facing the arrows and die a heroic death. This made the girl realize what was happening and she stood bravely facing the arrows and died a heroic death. This aroused the anger of the judge and hence he commanded that girl’s mother also to be killed in the same way. 

   Now I stand in the place of that mother who imparted bravery and courage into her daughter’s heart.” So saying they discussed many related issues that night. The next day dawned which was the last day in the life of Febronia.

The rays of the sun were unusually red and this lit up the entire sky which looked like a battle filled with bloodshed. Selenos had come to meet Lysimachus to discuss certain official issues and this made Lysimachus worry about the number of Christians he would probably kill that day. He asked Selenos, “Good to see you uncle. Is there an emergency? You have come all the way to see me. What is the issue uncle?” 

  Selenos replied, “Of course it is an emergency Lysimachus. There is a convent in this city on top of a small hill. I got the information that there are fifty nuns in that convent. So go immediately and arrest all of them and bring them to me. Do not delay. I will put them to death this very day. Ensure this information is kept as a secret. There is a black sheep among us who is passing on such information to the Christians and helping them to escape. If I get him red handed, then he will know my true self.” Lysimachus pretended as if he was unaware of what Selenos was saying and assured that he will help his uncle to find out the black sheep as soon as possible.

    Lysimachus immediately called his trusted army general and brother Primus and told him, “My dear brother I hope you have understood my heart and my thoughts. Though I am not a Christian, my mother is a Christian. According to my promise to my mother, I will not harm any children, women, nuns or any of the priestly community people. I fear that I will have to break my promise today. So I request you to go on my behalf to the convent and warn the nuns there to leave the place immediately and save their lives. If anyone is still caught then it is their fate and I will not have a part in it.”

   Febronia and the two other nuns were worshiping in the morning when suddenly ten soldiers entered the convent by forcefully breaking the doors. They had swords and wooden rods in their hands and asked the nuns to come out. One of the soldiers rushed in and took his sword to kill the head of the convent. Immediately Febronia said, “Do not harm these old women. Instead kill me for they are like my mother and I can’t bear to see them being killed.” By this time Primus came there and commanded the soldiers stating, “Stop every one. Go and stand outside the convent and I will handle these ladies myself.” After this command he looked at Febronia, this was the first time he looked at this young nun whose beauty enchanted this young army general. He spoke to her stating, “Did I not inform you well in advance to escape from this convent? Why did you all stay back?” 

    Febronia replied, “My Lord, we wanted to die as witnesses for our Lord Jesus Christ and hence we stayed back. The rest of the nuns who wished to save their lives have already left.” Primus was a bit confused at this statement and said, “This is utter foolishness. It is still not late, better late than never. Come on run for your lives. I will handle the situation. I have come here based on the orders of my brother Lysimachus who is the general of this place. So please do run and save your lives. I will give orders to my men and keep them busy. Use this opportunity and run away. Move fast.” 

   But since Febronia and the other two old nuns refused to escape, he had no other choice and he arrested them and brought them to the palace.

 Lysimachus and Selenos stood at the entrance of the palace gate. Selenos was greatly disappointed to see only three nuns being brought arrested. So he asked in a loud voice, “Where are the other fifty nuns? You have only brought three out of them?” 

  Primus replied, “My Lord I have searched enough and more all over the convent and I could find only these three nuns. The rest of them have escaped.” Selenos got furious at this and asked, “Oh I see….. Who was the person who was quicker than us to come and give you this information and helped you to escape? Why don’t you answer young lady?” 

  Febronia replied that she was not aware of the person who passed on the information. Only then Selenos looked at Fabronia. He too was no exception to be attracted by her awesome beauty and said, “Oh the queen of beauty is standing before me…… what a pity I am no more a youngster to thirst for her……” 

  So Selenos asked the soldiers to take Fabronia and put her in prison and leave the other two old ladies. He asked them to arrange for the usual torture treatment and also asked the people to gather in the arena.

Once Selenos left the place, Lysimachus called Primus and told him, “What have you done? Did you not understand what I told you?”

    Primus replied, “My dear brother, I did what you told me. But these three nuns refused to escape and I had no other go but to arrest them.” 

  Lysimachus gave a deep sigh and said, “Now even God will not be able to save that young girl. Let us wait and watch.” 

  Primus asked, “Why should we wait and watch? You have the power and authority with which you can very well release her. Why don’t you use your powers?” 

  Lysimachus replied with sigh, “how is it possible Primus? Though I am the rightful person vested with the power and authority, that power and authority is to kill the Christians and not to save them. How can I not go against the emperor’s command? Moreover I have already promised my father that I will abide by my uncles decisions and treat him in the place of my own father. So I can’t do anything on my own and so I am unable to help or save that young girl.”

    One of Seleno’s men overheard this conversation between Lysimachus and Primus and tried to pass this on to Selenos. But he was caught by the slave of Lysimachus. Since Lysimachus saved his life, the slave now caught hold of the spy and took him to an isolated place. But before he could get any further information from the spy, the spy had fainted.

 The next day the trial began. When the people heard that Febronia was brought for trial, almost everyone gathered in the arena. Many women were weeping with their faces covered so that no one could find out they were Christians. Febronia was brought with her hands and legs chained. There was a long chain round her neck too which gave the appearance that she had committed a great crime. She was made to stand in the centre of the arena. Once Lysimachus and Selenos came the trial began.

Lysimachus started the question, “Young lady what is your name?” there was no reply from Febronia. Once again he repeated the question, “Young lady what is your name? Won’t you reply to my question?” 

  Selenos was angry at this silence of Febronia and said, “Lysimachus, this is not the way to deal with her. Leave this place and I know how to handle her.” 

  Since Lysimachus knew that he could not do anything further, and since he had promised his mother that he will not do any harm to Christian women, children or nuns, he thought this to be a best opportunity and left the place immediately. At that time he saw a beautiful dove descend down from heaven. The dove came round Febronia thrice and then sat down on her shoulder and then flew away. None of the residents of the place had seen such a white dove ever before in that city. 

   But Selenos face became fierce and his eyes were red like fire. His very appearance turned out to be very frightening. Lysimachus who watched both the scenes closely said, “The war has started.” 

  Primus did not understand this statement and asked him, “What do you mean by war? The trial has only started….. I don’t understand this statement of yours.” 

  Lysimachus said, “Primus it is right that you can’t understand. This war about which I am speaking is not between Febronia and my uncle. It is between the truth and lie, between justice and injustice. It is between light and forces of darkness. Truth and lie are like the two sides of a coin. It is tossed in the air; only one side will be seen. But which is the side which will face the ground and which is the side which will win is the question now.” 

   Primus still could not understand anything and asked Lysimachus to explain it clearly to him.  Lysimachus explained stating, “My dear brother did you notice my uncles eyes a few minutes back? Did you see how red they turned out, which looked like blazing fire? Then did you further notice that his entire appearance changed and he looked so fierce. It is not my uncle but his deity,mars. This god is known for its anger and now this god has taken control of my uncle. Similarly the Holy Spirit, the Christian god, who is the giver of strength, has taken control of Febronia. So now this is a battle between these two gods. But I pity Febronia, for I don’t know what all torture awaits her.”

  Selenos sat on the throne of judgment. He said, “Young lady, since you stand here in your priesthood dress, I am giving you respect. You better don’t lose it. Now answer my questions.” 

   Febronia answered, “I am a Christian girl. Everyone calls me as Febronia.” He voice had authority in it and was clear enough that everyone gathered clearly heard what she spoke. But this only aroused the anger of Selenos. 

   He further said, “Febronia, mind your words. Ensure that you give due respect in what you say. You are a criminal and you practice the religion which is banned by the government. You know this very well and still what made you to go against the government order? Are you aware of the punishment for this crime?”    Febronia was not disturbed by this but spoke boldly saying, “Government will change from time to time and the people in authority will also change in the course of time. I am not bothered about it. According to me Jesus is the only true God. he is the only unchanging God. Even if this heaven and earth may pass away, but he will remain forever. He is the only person worthy of praise and worship. I have great respect for the king but I can never treat him as God, nor can I offer praise and worship to the false roman gods. I will never do this.” 

   These words added fuel to the burning anger of Selenos. He tried to handle her softly and said, 

“Febronia, I do not wish to treat you harshly. Even now I am much concerned about your well being. You are so beautiful and you are a bold woman. You speak with wisdom…. I am surprised that a girl like you is not interested in this worldly life, that too at such a young age. It is because you don’t know the happiness this world can give you….. You are like a bird in a cage. Come out of your cage and enjoy the pleasures of this world. Then you will understand what life is.” 

  Febronia replied, “You have mistaken me…… though I am bird in a cage, I know about this world for his world and all that is in it is created by my Lord almighty. Of course it is a beautiful world and I too know that. Let us not waste time, go ahead do what you wish. You can’t win me by your honey coated words.” This reply was a great insult to Selenos. 

   With a sarcastic smile he said, “I pity you young lady. Jesus died three hundred years ago. Don’t you think it is foolishness to waste your life saying that you are the bride of Christ? Don’t waste your life. Even now it is not too late. If you are willing I will get you married to my son Lysimachus. Then you will not have to undergo these sufferings. You will be a queen. What do you say?” 

  Febronia was not carried away by these words of Selenos. She replied, “Thanks a lot for your great ideas. I don’t have any wish of being a queen. You can be a person of authority and power but you cannot flatter me with your words. I will never forsake my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who is my bridegroom, my God almighty and my Master. This is my final reply and do not waste your time anymore.”

  Selenos lost his patience and in a stern voice said, “I was patient with you all this time is just because you are a nun. But I think you do not deserve any respect. I command you to denounce the name of Jesus and worship Caesar and all the other roman Gods. This is my final warning. Come on, go ahead and do it right now.”

   Febronia was not at all disturbed by these words and said, “You cannot frighten me with these words. I have already told you my decision. I will never change my mind. You too don’t try to change my mind. I have already offered my spirit, soul and body to Jesus and He is the person who is ruling it.” Each and every word of Febronia was like sharp sword that pierced the heart of Selenos and out of insult and fear of defeat,     Selenos shouted out saying, “How dare you try to advise me….. You will soon understand what will happen if you disobey a king like me. I will not leave you until you have obeyed my orders. I will torture you both in body and mind. Don’t dare to face such a situation. Surrender right now and obey my orders. This is my final chance to you. What do you say?” 

   Febronia replied, “You can do whatever you want. As it is written in the Holy Scriptures, ‘and fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell’ why are you still waiting. I am ready. Go on and try all that is possible. Today you will know that my love for Jesus is greater than all that is in this world.”

These words of Febronia set the heart of Selenos of fire and thus some sparks came out of his mouth which said, “What guts you have…… you are just a woman…. A young girl… I will make you walk this arena naked…..in front of all the crowd gathered here, you will be deprived of basic human dignity…. Let this be your bridal march my dear who is the bride of so called Jesus….. I will not stop here. If you still don’t obey me…. I will tear your body to pieces…. Roast that soft sparkling skin in fire….. Be prepared you fool…..” so saying he gave a loud arrogant laugh. 

  Febronia was still calm and replied with serenity, “Selenos, God created man as man and woman. He created them naked. I care the least about this punishment.” 

   Selenos could not bear any longer and gave immediate orders to make her naked and come round the arena. So the most pious, holy virgin Febronia, was made naked in front of the crowd and she came round the arena. All those who were gathered in the arena closed their eyes as she came walking around. People could not bear this injustice and shouted out saying, “Stop this cruelty…. Don’t insult women….. She is a pious woman…..stop this cruel act….” 

  But the senses of Selenos had already been made dark and he felt proud of his authority and said, “What Febronia, hope you had a grand march round the arena….. What do you say now…? Are you ready to listen to my orders now?”

    Febronia replied, “Selenos, I have not seen men in all my life. I don’t even know how they will look. But today you have stripped me of my garments and made me naked in front of all the women, men and children. But don’t be happy that you have insulted me. If you think so then you are a fool. You have in fact insulted your mother, your wife and your daughter and women as a whole. Since I am the bride of Christ, he will judge you for this act of yours.” 

   Selenos did not expect this reply said, “I think this was a cake walk for you and so you seem to speak so boldly. Now you will know the pain of disobeying me. Guards! Tie her up to that post and whip her so that he flesh and skin are torn to pieces. Have no mercy and use all your strength. Also set fire to her feet. Let her flesh be roasted till she learns to obey me. I will teach her a lesson. ”

As Jesus was scourged at a pillar, four soldiers stood round her and whipped her with all their might. The tender body of Febronia was torn to pieces and flesh fell down on the ground at each whip. Blood gushed out and ran down her body. At the same time her flesh was burnt from her feet up to her hip. Without any traces of humanity. 

  Selenos shouted, “Stop! Stop! Turn her to the other side of her body and repeat the same punishment. Now she will obey me.” The punishment was fulfilled as ordered by Selenos. Now Selenos looked at Febronbia and said, “I hope you would have changed your mind by now and obey me. Am I right Febronia?” 

  Febronia stood there with a torn and burnt up body. She had lost all her beauty, but her inner heart now glowed with the beauty of love for Jesus Christ. Just like Lord Jesus as he was carrying the cross, she had no beauty in her looks, she looked weak and disfigured. Veronica was there to wipe the face of Jesus, but Febronia had none to come to her rescue. But the Lord was with her and so she said, “I thank you for this punishment.” 

  Selenos thought that she must have lost her senses to speak like this. He asked her, “What did you say? Did you say thank you? Thank you for what?” 

  Febronia replied, “Selenos, we usually meditate on the sufferings of Christ and a part of it is where Jesus was tied to a pillar and whipped by the roman soldiers. Now I understand physically and mentally the sufferings Jesus must have underwent at that situation. I thank you for giving me this precious opportunity. As we read in the Bible that, ‘think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: but rejoice, in as much as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy’ I am happy that I had the privilege to take part in the sufferings of Christ. It is all because of you. So I thank you for this.”

  Selenos wondered how she was able to insult him amidst such pain. He could not believe his eyes. Still he did not give up. His heart was harder than the heart of Pharaoh during the time of Moses. So he said, “Don’t be in a hurry young lady. I will now destroy you will power. So now he ordered to comb her body from head to fool using a sharp iron nailed comb so that he skin will be peeled off [I hope the readers will be able to feel in your mind the pain of this punishment]. The punishment was executed both on the front and back of her body.

    Selenos enjoyed this sight and said, “Febronia don’t waste your time. Come on you are not going to win. Give up your faith and listen to me. I have the best physicians with me who will cure you easily. It is not too late. What do you say?”

  Febronia spoke up saying, “you insolent fool. I am surprised that you are a great king, with so much of authority and power, can’t understand this simple statement of mine. I am surprised how you will be able to administer and rule this huge population. Please understand that I am able to bear all this pain with the grace of my Lord Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. Your treatment is nothing before my master, the great heavenly physician. Your treatment will help to save the life of a dying man. But my master’s grace will raise even a dead man.”

As it is said, ‘do not cast your pearls in front of swine’, Febronia’s words about Jesus and his greatness to Selenos was like pearls thrown in front of swine. He could not understand nor was he interested to understand. So he said, “Are you giving me advice. Now I will show you who I am. Let me see what your heavenly physician is going to do. Soldiers, cut off her breasts. We shall see what he master is going to do” immediately a physician came with a knife and cut off Febronia’s right side breast and threw it before the crowd. 

   The public gathered could not bear this and cried out, “please stop this. Don’t punish her so severely” But this pleading voice of the public was just unwanted noise to the ears of Selenos. 

   “Why do you delay to cut off her left side breast? Do it right now”, screamed Selenos. The same was done and Febronia underwent great pain this time. So she cried to the Lord saying, “Lord have mercy on me. Give me the strength to bear all this. Do not forsake me and help me overcome this trial.” The Lord heard her prayer. 

  At the same time Selenos also heard this prayer and felt thrilled and said, “Oh now I see that you started to feel the pain. What was the prayer you prayed just now? Are you praying to a dead man Jesus? Ask him to come to your rescue….. Won’t he? Or where is that Holy Spirit, the giver of strength? I can’t see any one. Call them here. Ask them to come to your rescue……”

At this moment, Hieria came running from among the crowd shouting, “Stop this governor. Just because you are vested with power and authority, don’t go beyond your limits. There is a God Almighty above all the powers of this earth. You are just a man…. Just a human being, who will live today and will die any moment, God is watching everything and he will answer for all that you are doing now. Are you aware of what you are doing? How dare you make a young girl naked and cut off her breasts? I am surprised that your mother too is a woman who nursed you at her breasts and you have forgotten that. Did your wife not teach you the purity of a woman, the sanctity of a woman’s breast? Shame on you tyrant! You are not worthy to be a human being. I can’t call you as an animal also. Even animals do not hurt their own species for food or anger. You are far below them….. You are not a human being at all…. You are a representative of all the evil that is in this world. Did you think that there is no one to question you….?” So saying Hieria poured out all her anger and in a way her speech was a representation of the mind of the crowd gathered. 

  Selenos could not control his anger to accept insult after insult from young girls. His heart burned in anger that he was not able to win small girls with all his authority and power. So he said, “How dare you speak like this to a person like me? You came to speak for Febronia, and now let me see who will come to save you. Your punishment will give the grip of fear to all those who think of rescuing Febronia. Soldiers come on and kill her along with Febronia. I will not spare anyone who opposes me. I will execute the orders of my great king Diocletian.”

These words did not bring the expected change in Hieria and she spoke boldly stating, “I care the least for you and your king. You will be cursed among all the generations on this earth. Right from the time you were formed in your mother’s womb, up to this time your life will be a cursed one. The just Lord will avenge this cruelty of yours. But really your punishment will be unbearable and that which a tyrant like you too would not have imagined. Your death will be the worst kind of death.” In this way Hieria cursed Selenos. 

   Immediately Selenos lost control of him and ordered Hieria to be arrested and brought before him and commanded the soldiers to kill her in the same way like Febronia. 

    Hieria was happy at his death sentence and said, “Thanks a lot governor. Thanks a lot. I had already made up mind to die along with this holy virgin Febronia. Febronia, do you remember that I had already expressed this wish of mine to you when I met you in the convent? My wish is going to come true now. I am happy for this.” 

   But this death sentence made great chaos among the government officials and the situation of an outbreak of a riot was felt. Lysimachus who noticed this came to his uncle and warned him politely stating, “Uncle, this girl Hieria is not an ordinary girl. She is of high rank. She is the daughter of our senator. So do not take hasty decisions in her case. Her husband was also a senator. Also many of her relatives are in great official posts at present. So think and act. If you still persist in killing her then we will have to lose our posts. So leave her as of now. Do not allow your concentration to get distracted from Febronia.”

 Lysimachus said this in order to save at least Hieria from his uncle. Selenos was not able to digest this great insult. He said in his heart, “already one young girl has insulted me and I am not able to make her obey me. Now one younger girl has insulted me so badly. Anyway this is not the time to take revenge of her. I will deal with her once I finish the life of Febronia.” So he showed all his anger on Febronia. 

  He roared out saying, “Febronia what do you say now? Have you changed your mind? Where is your bridegroom Jesus? Why has he not come yet to save you?” so saying he gave a sarcastic laugh. Febronia calmly replied, “You do not have the spiritual eyes to see my master. Even now I see my master standing in heaven, amidst the group angels, with a crown in his hand which he is waiting to offer me for all the sufferings I am undergoing for his name sake. Do not waste time. Send me to him as soon as possible.” Selenos could not understand these words and he was not interested in it either. He said, “Oh so your age is what gives you the strength to bear all these torments. I will not give you the treatment which will be beyond all that you had suffered so far.” So saying, he called the physician and asked him to pull out all her teeth one by one. 

  The physician pulled out all her front row teeth one by one and this lead to great blood loss and Febronia fell down unconscious. At this point Selenos feared that Febronia would die without obeying his orders, that is betray Jesus, which would mean she has won the battle and that he had failed before a young little girl. So he wanted to find out means to keep her alive for some more time so that he could further torture her and at the end make her obey him and betray Jesus Christ. 

  So he shouted at the physician saying, “Stop it man. How many teeth have you pulled out?” The Physician replied, “Seventeen teeth my Lord. She is likely to get fits due to heavy loss of blood.” 

   Selenos ordered the physician, “Stop her bleeding immediately. I want her to be alive and suffer more. I will ensure she deny Jesus and I will win in this trial.” So the physician uses certain medicinal herbs and stopped the blood flow from her mouth. 

  After a few minutes Selenos spoke again, “Febronia, these will be the last words you will be able to speak. So accept defeat and deny Jesus. Don’t dream of winning.” 

   But Febronia said, “Praise be to the name of Lord Jesus. Praise be to the king of kings. Amen.” Immediately Selenos gave his orders stating, “Cut off her tongue. Let me see how she will magnify her Lord further.” 

 Febronia did not hide he tongue. She put forth her tongue and the physician cut it off from deep within. Immediately Febronia fell unconscious on the ground. All the people gathered in the arena, whether Christians or non Christians, were unable to bear witness to his horrid spectacle and left the scene of torture cursing Selenos, Diocletian and his gods.

But Selenos was not bothered about all this but keep on thinking of further ways of torturing Febronia. His eyes were completely tied up by the evil forces so that he had lost every bit of humanity. So he gave another order, “Cut off her hands and legs.” So a big wooden plank was brought and Febronia was made to lie on it. Both her hands were cut off. But when the soldier swung his axe to cut off her left leg, he was not able to do so. 

  He tried thrice and could not cut her left leg. But Febronia extended her right leg to be cut off. At last her legs too were cut off. There lay her body disfigured and mutilated. Febronia was a true follower of Jesus Christ for Jesus willingly extended his hands and feet to be nailed on the cross and Febronia extended her hands and legs to be cut off.

    Lysimachus was deeply affected by this horrible torture and tried to help her. So he called his uncle and said, “Uncle, this is enough. There is no chance for her survival further. Let her suffer. By the time we will go and have something to eat and relax. I feel hungry. Do you want to join me?” 

   But Selenos said, “My dear son Lysimachus I am not at all hungry. I don’t want to relax either. No one has insulted me so badly in all my life. But today I am insulted by this small girl. Shame on me…. I can’t bear this my son. My heart is burning with vengeance and anger and I will not leave this place until it is quenched with the defeat of this girl. So you take leave. I will join you later.”

  Lysimachus now understood that he could not do anything more from his side for Febronia and so he left the place leaving her in the hands of God. He said within his heart; let the Lord Almighty take revenge on this tyrant, my uncle too.

Selenos lost all his hope of keeping Febronia alive anymore and so he ordered her to be beheaded. Thus one of the soldiers caught hold of her hair and cut off her head in one shot. All those who watched this breathtaking cruel act were deeply filled with sorrow regarding the fate of Febronia. Many ladies fell down unconscious and many others cursed Selenos.

As it is said, “Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ” Febronia stood as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. The queen of beauty, who is the beloved of Jesus Christ, suffered the worst torments but endured them with the love she had for her master. She stood as a witness of Jesus Christ. The beautiful young girl lay there with her body completely disfigured, but still her face did not lose its beauty. The glory of the Lord could be seen in her face. Her  face looked up at heaven where Jesus was standing with arms wide open and saying, “Rise up, my love, my faith one, and come away. 

              For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; 

              the flowers appear on the earth;

              the time of the singing of birds is come,

              and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;

              o my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock,

              in th secret places of the stairs,

               let me see thy countenance, 

               let me hear thy voice;

              for sweet is thy voice, 

             and they countenance is comely.”

When Lysimachus heard that Febronia was beheaded, he rushed into the arena and strengthened the security so that none of the public will gather and take away her body pieces. 

    Selenos, who at last accepted his defeat, stood there staring at the sky. 

  Lost in thought, he shouted, “You Galilean, you have won at last” Then he behaved in a very strange manner, just like an animal. His eyes became red, his face became fierce. All those who were gathered there feared to see him. He raised strange noise which sounded like those of various animals and suddenly banged his head against the huge pillars of the roman palace. No one understood what he was doing or rather what was happening to him. No one was even interested to ask him what was happening to him. He kept on uttering one single word, “You Galilean, you have won at last”. Then with all his strength he hit his head against the pillar. His head broke and the brains splashed out. He met a very terrific end. 

     When Lysimachus heard that, within a few seconds after the death of Febronia, Selenos also died, he said loudly, “God has avenged the death of Febronia.” Then he raised his voice and said, “Oh dear citizens, I request you all, whether you are a Christian or not, to come and help in the burial of Febronia’s body in an orderly manner. I also request all those hidden Christians to come out and I give assurance for your life. The wicked tyrant Selenos is dead.” Hearing this announcement, all the priests, nuns and Christians came back to their own monasteries and convents and returned to their old life. 

    Lysimachus gathered all the remains, the body parts of Febronia, including the mud on which her precious blood was shed. He made a box out of the wood of Acacia, placed all that he had collected and took the box to the convent where she had lived with great respect. Many people gathered for her funeral.

    Bryena, who was the convent head and the foster mother of Febronia since she was two years of age, could not bear to see the mutilated body of her. The thought that Febronia had died a heroic death standing as a witness of Jesus Christ made her say, “I am proud of you my dear daughter Febronia. But who is there hear after to sing praises to the Lord? Who will conduct the worship? No voice, not even the sweet singing nightingale cannot fill you place. Who else will read the Holy Scripture? No one can fill this vacuum you have created in our lives. I can’t bear this loss Febronia, my dear precious daughter…..” so saying she wept badly at the death of this sweet daughter of hers. 

   Febronia’s body was buried in that convent. The Bishop of Nisibis, who had built a church dedicated to Febronia, came to the convent and requested her relics. When they were prepared to lift the reliquary, the earth and heaven shook, there was an earthquake followed by thunder. It seemed like nature commanded that no one should touch the grave of Febronia. Still the ruler along the priest and nuns and also with other religious people prayed to God and thus Mother Nature calmed down. Then Febronia’s grave was excavated and the box made of Acacia wood which contained her body was taken out.

   The Bishop called Bryene and said, “You brought up Febronia. So you alone have the right to touch the body of Febronia. Do not allow anyone else to touch her body. Even Febronia will prefer that only. So you take out the relics of Febronia out of the wooden body.”

  The moment Bryene touched the hand part of the relics of Febrionia, she felt that her hands got paralyzed. Tears ran down her cheeks and she said, “My dear daughter Febronia, our Lord wanted to give you the due glory and hence he has commanded a church to be built and that your body should be kept in that church. That is the reason I touched your relics and why do you punish me for that. I am your foster mother and now do return my hands to me.” 

  After his prayer, once again Bryene’s hands started to function normally. The king could not believe his eyes on seeing this miracle. He said, “Dear mother, even if the entire body of Febronia could not be brought to the church, ask her for any one of the relics to be kept in the church. Do ask her consent.”

     So Bryene asked Febronia, “Dear child, give me any one of your relics to be kept in the church in memory of you.” Her request was granted. So Bryene was given one teeth of Febronia and nothing else was given to her. She gave this to the Bishop and the same was taken to the church. 

   A marble, Syriac reliquary, shaped like a four root molar tooth held the tooth of Febronia and was kept in the altar.

Febronia’s friend, Hieria, the senator’s daughter sold out all she had and gave it to the poor. She used all her gold jewels and covered the coffin of Febronia and once again buried it in the convent. Once the burial was over the evening time came for prayer. At this time, the inmates of the convent saw Febronia sitting on the chair in the usual manner and she appeared in a ball of light. But no one dared to approach her or talk to her. They just simply gazed at her angelic countenance. But the convent head, Byrene called her, “Dear child Febronia” and tried to hug her but she disappeared in a flash of a second.

   After few years, the Roman Catholic Church awarded Febronia the title as a saint. Once again in 363 BC her grave was opened and all her relics was taken to Constantine Naples. Then as an effort cultivating the religious belief among the people, her relics were separated and taken to many parts of the world. At present her graved in Nisibis is empty. 

Still I got a photo of one of the hands of Febronia. St.Febronia’s feast is celebrated on June 25^th (304 BC)

Hieria along with her parents and relatives received baptism and became Christians. Hieria refused remarriage and went the way of Febronia and became a nun. 

  She got the same dress which Byrene offered her the day she came to meet Febronia. This became her permanent dress. The head of the convent said proudly, Febronia has chosen her dear friend Hieria as the right person to take up her place in reading the Holy Scriptures. All the spectators who saw the cruel martyrdom of Febronia became Christians. The Bible verse which says, unless the grain falls to the ground and dies, it will not give hundred fold benefits, came true in the life and death of St.Febronia.

The entire life of Febronia was recorded clearly by the assistant convent head Thomais who was an eyewitness of all that happened in Febronia’s life. Thus we have got a clear history of this pure and courageous saint.

Lysimachus who succeeded Selenos established peace and order in the country. Then he took his brother and friend Primus and went to a monastery in the midst of a desert nearby and spent time in reading the Bible and getting to know about Jesus Christ. Then their heads were shaved off and they received the priesthood costume. The horses which brought them to that place stood there with no one to attend to them.

Thus, the life of this great saint kindles the spirit of living for Jesus in the hearts of all those who read this. Here is a small tribute of mine for this great saint:

“You were made to stand naked before the crowd

Thus began your journey towards embracing the death shroud

You were tied to a pillar and mercilessly whipped

But tears of joy rolled down your cheeks and silently dripped

Your feet was set on fire which burnt your flesh within

Using a sharp iron comb they peeled off your skin

They cut off your breasts but could not touch your heart

 Which was nailed to the feet of Jesus and would never depart

One by one your teeth were removed

Though very painful, you stood firm in your faith unmoved

Though your soft little tongue was cut off and thrown

Still the praises of your heart reached His heavenly throne

You stretched out your hands and legs and did not hold them back

They cut off your head too….. But faith and courage you did not lack

So brave and so bold, you stood firm in your faith and love

Pray for us dear saint that we too will bear witness for Christ from now.

Amen