- Saint Eugenia
Saint Eugenia (died c AD 258) was an early
Christian Romanmartyr whose feast day is celebrated onDecember 25 in theRoman Catholic Church and onDecember 24 (January 6 , New Style) in theEastern Orthodox church. She is included in the "Golden Legend ".Legend
Her legend, considered
apocryphal , states that she was converted by and martyred withHyacinth and Protus , her Chamberlains, during the persecution of Valerian. She was said to have been the daughter Philip, "duke" ofAlexandria and governor of Egypt. She had fled her father's house dressed in men's clothing and was baptized by Helenus, bishop of Heliopolis. She later became anabbot , still pretending to be a man. As the story goes, while she was an abbot and still dressing like a man, she cured a woman of an illness, and when the woman made sexual advances, which she rebuffed, the woman accused her publicly of adultery. She was taken to court, where, still disguised, she faced her father as the judge. At the trial, her real female identity was revealed. She was exonerated and her father converted to the faith.anta Eugenia
There is a small village in the north of
Portugal with the name of Santa Eugenia that contains a church with a painting of Saint Eugenia dressed as a boy in Roman-era attire. A local legend states that Saint Eugenia passed through this area on a nearby Roman road and throughMoure , which lies at a major intersection of ancient Roman roads. There is also a tomb dating from about 1000 AD in the city ofBarcelos , high on a hill that reads "tomb of Saint Eugenia." It is possible that this tomb is the tomb of Saint Eugenia. During theMiddle Ages , saints were moved fromRome to the outer parts of Europe by monks attempting to raise money by sellingrelics . Patrick J. Geary, in his work "Furta Sacra", states that "on April 5, 838, a monk named Felix appeared atFulda with the remains of Saints Cornelius, Callistus, Agapitus, Georgius, Vincentius, Maximus, Cecilia, Eugenia, Digna, Emerita, andColumbana ." [Patrick J. Geary, "Furta Sacra: Thefts of Relics in the Central Middle Ages" (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990), 48.]External links
* [http://www.stlukeorthodox.com/images/jpg/dailysaints/december24.jpgIcon of Saint Eugenia]
* [http://www.stlukeorthodox.com/html/saints/steugeniaofrome.cfm St Luke's Orthodox Church]
* [http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=629 Catholic Online]
* [http://www.catholic-forum.com/Saints/sainte99.htm Catholic Forum: Saint Eugenia]
* [http://www.catholic-forum.com/saintS/golden140.htm Golden Legend]Notes
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