SAINT OF THE DAY

July 24: St. Christina

(4th century)
St. Christina is one of our youngest saints.
She was the daughter of, Urbain, a wealthy magistrate and pagan. When Christina was 11-years-old she was well-known for her beauty and attracted the attention of several suitors. Her father, however, wanted his daughter to become a pagan priestess.
Urbain demanded that his daughter pay reverence to his gods, but she refused. He locked her in a room where she was to burn incense before her father’s idols. Once again the girl refused because she realized they were just fabrications of men and that certainly something much greater must have created the world outside the window of her prison.
She prayed for divine intervention and she saw an angel who instructed her about the gospels. Thereafter, Christina tossed the false idols out of the window of the locked room.
When Urbain returned and found that his idols were missing he questioned his daughter, but she refused to speak. Servants told the father about his daughter’s new faith and becoming enraged, he beat her. Urbain had the servants responsible for surveilling the girl executed and put the girl in prison for her faith and the destruction of his property.
Christina’s mother went to her cell and pleaded with her to renounce her faith, but she refused. Christina again refused to worship false idols and renounce her faith at a trial. She was condemned to torture by fire but she did not die.
She was returned to prison where she miraculously healed. When she was discovered unharmed, a stone was tied to her neck and she was tossed into a lake but again she was miraculously saved when the rope untied and she floated to the surface. Her father thought it was a case of sorcery and became so agitated he died.
Christina subsequently was tortured by the region’s governor but survived his every attempt. Meanwhile, her story had captured the attention of others and prior to her decisive death by the sword, she was able to convert 200 people.
Adapted by A.J. Valentini