Saint Christina of Tyre

This illustrious virgin was from Tur Tur Ancient city in Tuscany, birthplace of the saint, now disappeared. , an ancient city of Tuscany, situated on the shores of Lake Bolsena, lac de Bolséna Place where the saint was thrown with a stone around her neck. but which has since been submerged by its floods. Her father, who was its prefect and governor in the name of the emperors, was named Urban; he hi Urbain Father of Saint Christina and prefect of Tyre, her first persecutor. mself became his daughter's executioner. Here is the cause of his anger: Christine, enlightened by celestial lights and moved by an impulse of the Holy Spirit, had embraced the faith of Jesus Christ; not content with that, she had taken all the gold and silver idols that her father worshipped in his house, and had broken them into pieces to give as alms to the poor Christians. This action of Christine drove this barbaric father to such an excess of fury that he immediately placed her in the hands of the executioners, who, by his order, slapped her cruelly, whipped her outrageously, and, finally, with unheard-of cruelty, finished tearing her precious body, already all bloody, with iron claws; so that the bones were exposed in several of her limbs; but such stinging pain was far from breaking the courage of this invincible virgin or disturbing the peace of her soul; she gathered up without astonishment the pieces of her flesh, and presented them to her father who satiated his eyes with her torment.

« Such a surprising action, instead of touching that tiger's heart, served only to irritate him further. He had her thrown into a hideous prison, loaded with chains and irons; then he had her tied to a wheel, slightly raised from the ground, which he had doused with oil on all sides and under which he had a great fire lit, so that, as the wheel turned, the body of this little innocent would suffer a double torture at the same time. But a miracle from heaven suspended its effect: the fire respected this body so pure, and turning its flames upon a troop of infidels whom curiosity and pleasure had brought running to this spectacle, it consumed a great number of them.

« The father, at the sight of a prodigy that covered him and all the idolaters with confusion, was prey to the most violent spite. He had his daughter brought back to prison; but she did not remain there without help: an Angel descended into her dungeon, consoled her, healed her wounds, and gave new strength to her spirit and her heart. This unnatural father, having learned of this wonder as well, had his fury attempt one last effort. He ordered the executioners to tie a stone to Christine's neck and to throw her into the lake; but God, who had known how to preserve her from the flames, also knew well how to preserve her from the waters. The same Angel who had followed her into the pit accompanied her into the sea, and, having freed her from all fear and all pain, he brought her out and led her to the edge of the shore, where she was found as healthy as before. It was this last blow from heaven that finished striking down this inhuman father; the rage he felt at seeing that the miracles did not cease in favor of his daughter put him so much out of his mind that the next day he was found dead in his bed.

Di on, Dion Successor of Urban in the government of the city and persecutor of the saint. who was his successor in the government of the city, was also the heir to his cruelty. He unleashed himself like him against Christine; he invented a thousand kinds of tortures to torment this innocent virgin. The most rigorous was when he had her laid in an iron cradle filled with boiling oil mixed with pitch; but Christine, whom God took pleasure in protecting in the face and to the confusion of her tyrants, with a single sign of the cross over herself, calmed such stinging ardors, and, with a holy insult to the executioners, she told them that "they had placed her in this cradle like a child who had just been regenerated to grace through baptism." These detestable ministers of Satan were in despair to see a ten-year-old child triumph over all their efforts and remain invulnerable in the midst of such a devouring torture. Thus these infamous barbarians, forgetting all the respect they owed to the modesty and decency of this innocent virgin, cut her hair, stripped her of her clothes, and, in this deplorable state, dragged her with outrage into the temple of Apollo to force her to offer incense to this false god. But no sooner had she entered than, by a new miracle of the Almighty, the idol shattered into pieces, the tyrant fell stone dead, and the sight of this wonder so touched the hearts of those who were present that three thousand of these infidels converted to the faith.

After the death of this new prefect, Saint Christina passed into the hands of a third named Julian; for t his ty Julien Third prefect and final persecutor of Saint Christina. rant, believing it was a matter of his honor to avenge the shame and even the death of those who had preceded him in his office, tested upon her every torment he could. First, he had her thrown into a burning furnace to be consumed; but God, wishing to renew in her person the ancient miracle of the three children in the furnace of Babylon, rendered these flames powerless, and allowed the Saint to remain there for five days without suffering anything from them. Then, the men, finding themselves at the end of their malice, resolved to have recourse to the demon. They addressed themselves to a magician, who threw into the prison of our admirable Martyr a quantity of horrible snakes, asps, and vipers, in order to make her die by their venom; but this diabolical invention served only to further heighten her glory and to make her triumph over animals, after having conquered the elements. Her tongue was cut out, but she did not for that lose the use of speech; on the contrary, she made the praises of the true God whom she adored heard with more force than ever. Finally, Julian, losing all patience, had her tied to a post where her body was pierced with arrows, until she had rendered her soul to God in this torment where she completed her triumph and merited the crown of one of the most illustrious Martyrs of Jesus Christ. This precious death occurred on July 24, as it is marked in all the Martyrologies. Some authors have believed that Saint Augustine had spoken of this glorious virgin while writing on Psalm 120; but they were mistaken by the error of a copyist, who put Christina instead of Crispina, another famous Martyr o Crispine Martyr of Africa sometimes confused with Christina of Tyre. f Thebeste, in Africa, whom the Church commemorates on December 5.

"For our Saint Christina, her holy body was subsequently carried to Palermo Palerme Birthplace and site of the saint's principal miracle. , in Sicily, where she was revered with great devotion by the people, who had taken her as one of their advocates and principal patronesses."

During the 11th century, it was taken by two pilgrims and brought near Béthune, to the united parishes of Ecques (La Pugnoy) and La Beuvrière: for it was there t La Beuvrière A location in the Pas-de-Calais where relics were brought in the 11th century. hat the second of these pilgrims died, after having confessed to the local priest the circumstances of his pious theft. A church was then built and a monastery founded to worthily honor such precious relics, and religious from the Abbey of Charroux were brought in to guard and venerate them. In 1587, the Abbey of Charroux ceded this establishment to the Abbey of Saint-Vaast, and from then until the Revolution, the provostship of La Beuvrière succeeded the original priory.

Twice each year, on Quasimodo Sunday and the Sunday following July 24, the parish of Viserny (Côte-d'Or) carries in trium ph, in Viserny Parish in Côte-d'Or possessing relics of the saint. a solemn procession, the reliquaries and the antique shrine where the bones of Saint Christina are kept, a treasure that has enriched the church for centuries.

She is represented in four ways: 1st, holding a knife in her hands, to signify that her breasts and tongue were cut off; 2nd, carrying an arrow in her hand; 3rd, having broken idols near her; 4th, she is often depicted with a serpent in her hand, because one of the torments she overcame was that of the venomous reptiles to which she had been exposed.

We have supplemented the account of Saint Ado with the Acta Sanctorum, local notes, and Father Cahier.