Saint Christina, Virgin Martyr

Boris was forewarned of his brother's plans, but when an army gathered to defend him, he called them off, explaining that he could not raise a hand against his brother who now stood in his father's place. With one attendant, Boris spent the night in prayer on the bank of the Alta River, and expressed how sad it was to leave the "marvelous light" of day and his "good and beautiful body." In the morning a gang of Svyatopolk's followers attacked him with spears while Boris prayed for them. On their way to Kiev with his body, the ruffians discovered he was still alive, and completed the job with swords.

Svyatopolk, under a false pretense of friendliness, invited Gleb to Kiev. On the way, Gleb's boat was boarded on the Dnieper River near Smolensk by armed men. He begged them to spare him, refusing to fight back.

When he saw that he could not alter their purpose, he resigned himself to death, saying, "I am in your hands and in the hands of my brother, your prince, I am being slain; I know not for what; but you, Lord, know. And I know, O my Lord, that you said to your apostles that for your name's sake hands would be laid upon them and they would be betrayed by kinsmen and friends, and that brother would bring death to brother." His final death blow was said to have been delivered by his cook, who came from behind to stab his throat "like a butcher killing sheep."

In 1020, another of Vladimir's sons, Yaroslav, usurped Svyatopolk, who died during his escape to Poland. Yaroslav buried the bodies of Boris and Gleb in the church of Saint Basil at Vyshgorod. Miracles were reported at their tomb, and it became a site of pilgrimage.

From the first, the highest motives were attributed to their attitude of resignation--unwillingness to repel injustice to themselves by force and violently oppose an elder brother. Although they were not considered martyrs in the traditional sense, the Russian Church perceived them as "passion bearers"--blameless men who did not wish to die but refused to defend themselves, thus voluntarily submitting to death like Christ. The Greek authorities apparently did not completely understand the theory, but the popular feeling among the Russian people was so intense that they agreed to canonize the brothers. Boris is the patron said of Moscow (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney, Fedotov, White).

The Novgorod Icon Book has several images of these saints:

14th-century Russian icon
Mid-14th-century Russian icon
Late 14th-century Russian icon of Saints Boris and Gleb Mounted
Russian icon of Saints Vladimir, Boris, and Gleb

In art, Saint Christina is a maiden with a millstone. She may be shown (1) with a millstone and two arrows; (2) holding an arrow, crowned in the company of Saint Ursula; (3) pierced by three arrows; (4) in prison breaking idols; (5) with a knife; (6) with tongs; or (7) with an arrow and scepter (Roeder). There is a 6th-century mosaic at Ravenna, Italy, that purports to portray her, but it has no special attributes and may be that of Christina of Tyre (Farmer).

As was the custom Christina was carried into the church in an open coffin, where a Requiem Mass was beginning. Suddenly, after the Agnus Dei, Christina sat up, soared to the beams of the roof, and perched there. The congregation fled in fright, except her elder sister. When the Mass was completed, the priest persuaded Christina to come down from the rafters, where she is said to have taken refuge to escape the smell of sinful human bodies.

Christina told the priest that she had died, gone to hell, to purgatory, and then to heaven. She was allowed to return to earth to pray for the suffering souls in purgatory. In each place she saw many she knew. In her own words:

"As soon as my soul was separated from my body, it was received by angels, who conducted it to a very gloomy place, entirely filled with souls. The torments which they there endured appeared to me so excessive, that it is impossible for me to give any idea of their rigor. I saw among them many of my acquaintances, and, deeply touched by their sad condition, I asked what place it was, for I believed it to be Hell.

"My guide answered me that it was Purgatory, where sinners were punished who, before death, had repented of their faults, but had not made worthy satisfaction to God. From thence I was conducted into Hell, and there also I recognized among the reprobates some whom I had formerly known.

"The angels then transported me into Heaven, even to the throne of the Divine Majesty. The Lord regarded me with a favorable eye, and I experienced an extreme joy, because I thought to obtain the grace of dwelling eternally with Him.

"But my Heavenly Father, seeing what passed in my heart, said to me these words: 'Assuredly, My dear daughter, you will one day be with Me. Now, however, I allow you to choose, either to remain with Me henceforth from this time, or to return again to earth to accomplish a mission of charity and suffering. In order to deliver from the flames of Purgatory those souls which have inspired you with so much compassion, you shall suffer for them upon earth; you shall endure great torments, without, however, dying from their effects. And not only will you relieve the departed, but the example which you will give to the living, and your life of continual suffering, will lead sinners to be converted and to expiate their crimes. After having ended this new life, you shall return here laden with merits.'

"At these words, seeing the great advantages offered to me for souls, I replied, without hesitation, that I would return to life, and I arose at that same instant. It is for this sole object, the relief of the departed and the conversion of sinners, that I have returned to this world. Therefore be not astonished at the penances I shall practice, nor at the life that you will see me lead from henceforward. It will be so extraordinary that nothing like to it has ever been seen."

She would jump into a burning furnace until she could no longer handle it, or into the river in the coldest weather and stay for weeks. Once she was even said to have gotten into a mill-race and been carried under the wheel. She would pray while balancing on a hurdle or curled up in a ball on the ground. In a church at a placed called Wellen, she climbed into the large font and sat in the water. Of course, many thought that she was insane.

Once she was caught by a man who struck her so hard on the leg that it was thought to be broken. She was taken to a surgeon's home where her leg was splinted, and she was chained to a pillar for her own safety. She escaped at night. On one occasion, a priest refused her Communion; she ran wildly down the street and jumped into the Meuse River.

Yet many people came to Christina for good advice. Christina spent the last years of her life in the convent of Saint Catherine at Saint-Trond. While she lived there, she was held in high respect by Louis, the count of Looz, who treated her as a friend, accepted her criticism, and welcomed her at his castle. Blessed Marie d'Oignies respected her as well, the prioress of Saint Catherine's praised her obedience, and Saint Lutgardis sought her counsel. She lived this life of penance for 52 years after she had been raised from the dead.

Christina's experiences were recorded by a contemporary Dominican, Cardinal James de Vitry, in the preface to the Life of Marie d'Oignies, and by the Dominican Bishop Thomas de Cantimpre'. Her body is preserved in the Redemptorist church at Saint-Trond. Her resurrection was witnessed by the whole town and many saw her escape her various tortures unscathed. Her cultus has never been officially confirmed (Benedictines, Bentley, Delaney, Schouppe, Walsh, White).

In art, Blessed Christina is a maiden with dishevelled hair sitting on a wheel with serpents around her. At times she may be shown (1) with a serpent around her wrist (Husenbeth erroneously gives this as Christina of Bolsena or Tuscany (today); (2) with a serpent and palm; or (3) with a wheel and palm (easily confused with Saint Catherine of Alexandria, but she is not crowned and her wheel has no spikes) (Roeder). Christina is venerated at Liège and Trond (Roeder). Some of these emblems seem more appropriate for Christina of Tyre; there may be some confusion.

To be a saint is not enough just to avoid sin and obey the commandments; a saint is someone who loves God, lives with God and thinks with God. And when a Christian loves, lives, and thinks with God none of the commandments will be a burden to him, nor will he be tempted to do any of the things that are forbidden, since their effect would be to separate him from God. True happiness comes only from God, and to find this happiness in God is the essence of saintliness. The saints who have gone before us show us the path to this happiness by showing us the path to God.

Saintliness and happiness, then, are the vocation of every Christian. One of the greatest mysteries and mercies of God is that he asks us to be saints and also gives us the means to become such. The glory of God and the happiness of man are one and the same thing. That is what the saints have learned, and that is what we can learn from them. Moreover the saints who are now living the everlasting life near to the throne of God are watching over us and interceding with the Lord on our behalf. They are not only our examples and models, they are also our friends and protectors.

Saint Christina was born at a time when Christians of the East and West were still united in a single Church. Her acts have come down to us from some ancient Greek texts, among them a papyrus that dates from the 5th century.

We know that her father Urbanus was governor of the tow of Tyre and of the surrounding province, a position in which he was responsible for maintaining the official pagan religion. Christina, of course, was also brought up as a pagan, but by the time she was 12 her virtues were so great that her father, fearing that she might convert to Christianity, locked her away in a tower with two servants. However, one of the servants was herself a Christian; she instructed Christina in the faith, and later a priest baptized her in secret.

When he heard of this, Urbanus ordered his daughter to abjure her faith and to return to the worship of the idols. Misunderstanding the nature of the Trinity, he said: "You already serve three gods, so why can't you also serve the gods of the empire?" Christina refused; her two former servants were replaced by 12 young ladies of the highest society, but it wasn't long before they had all been converted by Christina and received the baptism in secret. One evening they all escaped from the tower and defaced the statues of Jupiter, Apollo, and Venus.

Urbanus' fury was so great that he at once imprisoned Christina and subjected her to cruel punishments; finding her adamant in her faith, he then ordered her to be thrown into the midst of an enormous bonfire, but the flames left her unharmed. This was but the first of a long series of intended tortures and miraculous deliverances. A large stone was tied around her neck and she was thrown into the middle of a lake, but the stone refused to sink. She was taken back to her prison cell and during the night Urbanus decided to have her beheaded, but by the next morning he was dead.

The new prefect at first tried to persuade Christina to renounce God, but was as unsuccessful as Urbanus. She was flogged by soldiers and cast into a cauldron of boiling oil and sulphur, but once again emerged unharmed. Accused by the pagan priests of practicing black magic, she was taken before the statue of Apollo in the temple. Confident in the power of her faith, she ordered the statue to come down from its pedestal and to walk 15 paces out of the temple; and at once the statue obeyed.

A third prefect ordered her to burn incense to the idols, and was met with the same obstinance. This time Christina was thrown into an oven that had been heated white hot. The door was closed on her and for five days the furnace was kept at extreme heat, but when the door was opened she was found to be safe and unscathed. She was next exposed to poisonous snakes, but instead of stinging her they coiled affectionately round her neck and feet. When the pagan priest attempted to goad them on, they turned on him and stung him to death, but Christina, after calming down the panicked crowd and replacing the snakes in their sacks, restored him to life.

But at length God put an end to her trials. She was taken into an arena where her tongue, which had so often proclaimed her faith, was cut out, and after that she was shot to death with arrows. This legend seems to be a confutation of those of Saints Barbara, Catherine of Alexandria, and Ursula.

Saint Christina is celebrated on the same day in both the Greek and Roman Churches; she was martyred at a time when they both formed one Church, and we may pray to her to hasten the day when we are once again united (Encyclopedia, Farmer).

In 15th- and 16th-century paintings by Cranach and Paul Veronese, her attributes are a millstone, a wheel, pincers, and arrows (Farmer).

Nicholas, the son of Herman and Margaret of Skeninge, was raised to piety. He was educated in Paris and Orléans, France, in civil and canon law. He was ordained a priest, served as a canon in Sweden, and became tutor to the sons of Saint Bridget of Sweden to whom he was a devoted friend. In 1361, he was appointed archdeacon of Linköping,

Nicholas led a life of abstinence: On Fridays he fasted on bread with a little salt and water; sometimes fasting completely from Thursday evening until midday on Saturday. In 1374, he was promoted to bishop of Linköping. In that dignity Nicholas had to overcome considerable opposition from both the civil authorities and a reluctant clergy who resented his attempts at reforming both the organization of the church and morality. Nicholas persisted patiently and eventually overcame the opposition.

He is highly honored in Sweden as a liturgist and poet, who devoted his talents to liturgical compositions. This was especially so after the return of the body of Saint Bridget to her convent of Vladstena in Linköping. He had already helped Vladstena by writing its constitutions. Nicholas worked tirelessly for his friend's canonization, which became official about the time of his death.

Nicholas's cult arose immediately thereafter; vita were written and cures described. An enquiry into his life and miracles began in 1417, and Pope Martin V confirmed his cultus. The translation of relics occurred in 1515, and eight years later his Office was authorized. His cultus ended with the Reformation. The Benedictines note that this canonization cannot be proven; he might be better considered as a beatus. In some places, his feast is given as May 2 (Benedictines, Farmer, Husenbeth).

Wulhere's father Penda had persecuted Christians, but his elder brother Peada had allowed Christianity to be established in his realm. There is much speculation as to the date of Wulfere's conversion and whether he actually committed the crime or took responsibility for the acts of some of his courtiers.

The procurator of the Peterborough Abbey built at Stone travelled to Rome and prevailed upon the pope to enroll the martyrs among the saints. He left the head of Saint Wulfhade, which he had taken with him, in the church of Saint Laurence at Viterbo (Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Husenbeth).

In art, these two are a pair of princely huntsmen who pursue a stage, which takes refuge with Saint Chad, sitting by a pool (Roeder). They are venerated at Lichfield, York, England (Roeder) and are patrons of the town and monastery of Stone (Husenbeth).