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Beatrice (Beatrix) was martyred with her brothers Simpliciu and
Faustinus during the Diocletian persecution.
Simplicius and Faustinus were beaten with clubs, and finally beheaded
and thrown into the Tiber. Beatrix had
the bodies drawn out of the water and buried.
For seven months Beatrix lived with a pious widow named Lucina and
together they offered hospitality to persecuted Christians healing their wounds
and feeding them. When she was arrested
and strangled to death in prison, Lucina buried her with her brothers in the
cemetery on the Via Portuensis in 303 CE.
Juliana was the daughter of a pagan prince who betrothed
her to the Senator Eleusius. Her father was violently opposed to Christianity,
but Juliana secretly converted and was baptized. When the time came for her to marry, she
refused. Her fiancé, who was also the
governor, ordered her to be flogged.
Then he had hung her by her hair until it was pulled from her
scalp. He promised to allow her to
worship her God freely if she married him.
When she refused again, he burned her face on a grate. Many pagans who witnessed her torture were so
moved by her courage that they converted to Christianity. The Senator had them all beheaded in 304
CE. A wealthy noble woman named Sephonia
took Juliana's body and gave it a proper burial in Campania.
Restituta was born at Teniza (Tunisia) and tortured under
Diocletian. She was placed in boat loaded with oakum and resin that was set
ablaze. It is unknown whether she burned
to death or drowned. A local Christian
woman named Lucina found the incorrupt body of Restituta on the beach and had
it solemnly buried at the foot of Monte Vico in Lacco Ameno, where a basilica
was dedicated to her. Some of her relics
were brought to Naples in the fifth century and a church was built in her honor
in Naples in the sixth century . The church was later incorporated into the Cathedral of Naples
built on the same site. The date of her
death is believed to be 304 CE.
Lucia (Lucy)
was born of rich and noble parents about the year 283 CE. Her father was of Roman origin, but he died
when she was five years old, leaving Lucia and her mother without a
guardian. Her mother was suffering from
a bleeding disorder and feared for Lucia's future so she arranged for her
daughter to marry a wealthy young pagan.
Lucia convinced her mother to make a pilgrimage to Catania where was
cured. In gratitude her mother allowed her to consecrate her virginity to God and distribute her dowry among the
poor. Her fiancé, however, took offense and turned her over to the
authorities who gouged out her eyes before beheading her with a sword in
304 CE.
Crispina was born at Thagara (Tunisia) into a
distinguished family and became a wealthy matron with many children. On being
ordered to sacrifice to the gods she declared she believed in only one
God. The judge ordered her head to be
shaved and subjected her to public mockery. Despite the tears of her children,
she refused to recant and offered her neck to the swordsman who beheaded her in
304 CE.
Febronia was another virgin who refused to renounce her
faith and marry. For this she was
brutally tortured an mutilated with pliers until she died in 304 CE.
Having witnessed her courageous suffering, her fiancé converted and was also executed.
Agnes of Rome was a member of the Roman nobility and raised in
an early Catholic family. She suffered martyrdom at the age of twelve or thirteen
during the reign of the Roman Emperor Diocletian. When she spurned the offer of
marriage to the prefect’s son, he condemned her to be dragged naked through the
streets to brothel. When she was expelled from the brothel for failing to submit, she was bound to a
stake to be burned. The bundle of wood would not burn, and the officer in charge
drew his sword and beheaded her in 304 CE. She was buried beside the Via Nomentana in Rome, and the church of Sant'Agnese fuori le mura was later built over the catacomb where her relics are interred. Her skull was sent for veneration in a
separate chapel in the church of Sant'Agnese in Agone in the Piazza
Navona. Her foster sister Emerentiana
was stoned to death for reprimanding her sister's executioners shortly after her martyrdom.
Catherine of Alexandria was a princess and a scholar, who became a
Christian around the age of fourteen after a vision of the Madonna and
Child. When Maxentius began his
persecutions, she rebuked him for his cruelty. The emperor summoned fifty of
the best pagan philosophers and orators to dispute with her, but she won the
debate converting several of her adversaries in the process. The emperor ordered them killed and had
Catherine scourged and thrown in prison.
She continued to win converts while in prison, including Maxentius'
wife, Valeria. The emperor executed them
all and asked Catherine to marry him.
When she refused, she was condemned to die on a spike wheel, but the
wheel shattered at her touch, and she was beheaded in 305 CE.
Theodosia was born in Tyre (Lebanon) in 290 CE and was
martyred at the age of seventeen in 307 CE.
She made her way to Caesarea in Palestine and went to the public square
where many Christians were in chains awaiting interrogation. As she began
encouraging them and praising their courage, she was seized by the guards and
tortured when she refused to reject Christianity. Her sides were raked with combs until her
ribs were torn and her bowels visible.
Then she was thrown into the sea.
Having spent his fury on Theodosia, the governor sent the other
Christians into slavery without inflicting any torture upon them.
Fausta was a thirteen year old girl who was arrested,
tortured, and executed for being a Christian in 311 CE. Evilasius, the man responsible for torturing
and executing her, converted to Christianity after watching her courageous
death and was also martyred.
