De sancta Eufemia
The Meaning of a Holy Life
The name Euphemia signifies a life of goodness, resonance, and devotion to God.
The name Euphemia is derived from 'eu', which means 'good', and 'femina', meaning 'woman'—so, 'good woman'—which is to say, useful, honest, and delightful, because 'good' is defined in this threefold way. She was useful to others through her way of life, honest to herself through the ordering of her character, and delightful to God through her heavenly contemplation. Alternatively, Euphemia is derived from 'euphonia', which means 'sweet resonance'. A sweet sound is produced in three ways: by voice, as in singing; by striking, as on a harp; and by breath, as in an organ. In this way, the blessed Euphemia made a sweet sound for God with the voice of her preaching, the striking of her good works, and the breath of her interior devotion. .
The Courage of the Martyr
Euphemia publicly confesses Christ and withstands the judge's initial attempts to break her spirit.
Euphemia, the daughter of a senator, seeing Christians being torn apart by such diverse punishments during the time of Diocletian, hurried to the judge Priscus and, publicly confessing Christ, strengthened the spirits of even the men by the example of her own constancy. When, therefore, he was cruelly beheading the saints in Euphemia's presence, she was provoked all the more by their constancy and cried out that she was suffering an injustice at the judge's hands. Then the judge rejoiced, thinking she wanted to consent to the sacrifices. So when he asked her what injustice he was doing to her, she said: 'Since I am of noble birth, why do you prefer unknown strangers to me, and make them the first to reach Christ and attain the promised glory?' The judge replied to her: 'I thought you had come to your senses, and I was glad that you remembered your nobility or your sex.' She was then shut away in prison, and the following day she was brought out with those who were bound, though she herself was without bonds. Again she complained most gravely, asking why, contrary to the law of the emperors, she alone was being spared from the bonds. Then she was beaten most harshly with slaps and shut back in prison. The judge followed her, wanting to violate her out of lust, but as she resisted him manfully, divine power drew his hand back. Thinking he was bewitched, he sent his house steward to her to promise her many things if he could make her consent. But he could neither open the locked prison with keys nor break it with axes, until he was seized by a demon, and crying out and tearing at himself, he barely escaped.
Divine Protection in Trial
Through fire, wheels, and imprisonment, Euphemia is miraculously preserved by divine grace.
Then she was led out and placed upon a wheel whose spokes were filled with burning coals, and the operator inside the wheel gave a signal to those pulling it so that, when he made a sound, they would pull all at once, and in this way, as the fire flared up, the spokes would tear her body apart. But by the will of God, the iron tool that controlled the wheel fell from his hand with a loud noise, and as they continued to pull, the wheel crushed the operator and left Euphemia standing unharmed upon it; then the operator's parents, in their grief, tried to burn her along with the wheel by piling fire beneath it, but the wheel was consumed while Euphemia was freed by an angel and seen standing unharmed in a high place, and Appellianus said to the judge, "The power of the Christians is only overcome by the sword; therefore, I advise you to have her beheaded." When ladders were raised and a man tried to reach out to seize her, he was instantly paralyzed and barely dragged away half-dead. Another man named Sosthenes climbed up, but he was immediately changed. He begged her for forgiveness and, drawing his sword, shouted to the judge that he would rather kill himself than touch her, whom the angels were defending. Finally, after she was led away, the judge told his chancellor to summon all the lecherous young men to mock her until she was exhausted and gave in. But when he went in to her and saw many radiant virgins surrounding her as she prayed, he was immediately converted to Christianity by her words. The governor hung the virgin by her hair, but he also had her locked in prison without food, remaining motionless, so that on the seventh day she would be crushed by the weight of four large stones.1 She, however, was fed daily by an angel throughout those seven days.2
Victory Over the Adversary
Euphemia overcomes stones and beasts, while her persecutors meet a tragic end.
When she was placed between the hardest stones, at her prayer those very stones were reduced to the finest ash. The governor, embarrassed at being defeated by a girl, ordered her thrown into a pit where three massive beasts were kept—beasts large enough to devour any man. They did so immediately. Running to the virgin with fawning gestures and joining their tails together to provide her with a kind of seat to sit on, they confounded the judge, who saw this, all the more vehemently. When the governor was nearly dying from distress, the executioner came in to avenge the injury to his master, drove a sword into his own side, and made himself a martyr for Christ; the judge dressed him in a silk robe as a reward and surrounded him with a golden necklace, but as he went out, he was seized by a lion and completely devoured by it. When his people searched for him for a long time, they found only a few of his bones. They found his torn clothes and the golden necklace. Priscus the judge was also found dead, having eaten himself.
The Eternal Crown
Euphemia's martyrdom leads to the conversion of many, and her legacy is celebrated through prayer.
Saint Euphemia was buried in Chalcedon with honor. Through her merits, all the Jews and Gentiles of Chalcedon came to believe in Christ. She suffered martyrdom around the year of our Lord 180. Ambrose says this about the virgin in his preface: 'The noble virgin and conqueror Euphemia, keeping the crown of her virginity, earned the right to be clothed in the crown of martyrdom. By her prayers, the enemy is defeated, the adversary Priscus is overcome, the virgin is snatched safely from the furnace of fire, hard stones are turned to dust, wild beasts grow tame and bow their necks, and every torture of punishment is overcome by her prayer. Finally, pierced by the point of a sword, she leaves the prison of the flesh and joins the heavenly choir in joy. May this holy virgin commend your Church to you, Lord; may she intercede for us sinners; and may she present our prayers to you, as a pure and spotless handmaid.'
Read the original Latin
Eufemia dicitur ab eu, quod est bonum, et femina, quasi bona femina, id est utilis, honesta et delectabilis, quia hoc triplici modo dicitur bonum. Fuit enim utilis aliis per conversationem, honesta sibi per morum compositionem, delectabilis Deo per coelestem contemplationem. Vel Eufemia dicitur quasi euphonia, quod est suavis sonoritas. Suavis enim sonus fit tribus modis, scilicet voce ut in cantu, pulsu ut in cythara, flatu ut in organo. Sic beata Eufemia fecit Deo dulcem sonum cum voce praedicationis, cum pulsu bonae operationis et cum flatu internae devotionis, . .
Eufemia filia senatoris, videns christianos tempore Dyocletiani tam diversis poenis laniari, ad Priscum judicem properavit et Christum publice confitens exemplo suae constantiae etiam virorum animos confortabat, Gum igitur judex christianos successive occideret, alios praesentes esse jubebat, ut saltem territi immolarent, dumconstantes tam crudeliter laniari viderent. Cum ergo coram Eufemia sanctos crudeliter detruncaret, ipsa eorum constantia amplius provocata injuriam a judice se pati clamabat, Tunc judex gavisus est putans, eam sacrificiis velle consentire, Unde cum ab ea, quam sibi injuriam faceret, requisivisset, illa ait: cum sim genere nobilis, cur mihi ignotos et advenas anteponis et priores facis ad Christum pertingere et ad promissam gloriam pervenire? Cui judex: putabam te ad mentem rediisse et gaudebam te tuae nobilitatis vel sexus meminisse. Reclusa igitur in carcere et sequenti die cam vinctis sine vinculis est adducta. Iterum gravissime est conquesta, cur contra legem imperatorum sibi soli a vinculis parceretur. Tunc alapis durissime caeditur et in carcere recluditur, Quam Judex secutus ex libidine opprimere voluit, sed illa viriliter reluctante manum ejus virtus divina contraxit. Tune putans se incantatum praepositum domus suae ad ipsam direxit, ut multa promitteret, si eam faceret consentire. Sed ille carcerem clausum nec clavibus aperire potnit nec securibus frangere, donec a daemone arreptus clamans et se ipsum dilanians vix evasit.
Deinde educta posita est super rotam, cujus vectes carbonibus pleni erant, et artifex intra rotam tale signum trahentibus dedit, ut, quando sonum faceret, simul traherent et sic exeunte igne vectes corpus ejus dissiparent. Sed nutu Dei ferramentum, quo rota temperabatur, de manu ejus decidens sonum fecit et continuo illis trahentibus rota artificem comminuit et Eufemiam stantem super eam illaesam servavit, Tunc parentes artificis lamentantes supposito igne ipsam cum rota comburere voluerunt, sed rota combusta Eufemia ab angelo soluta in quodam loco excelso incolumis stare conspicitur, Appellianus judici ait: virtus christianorum nonnisi in ferro vincitur, unde consulo, ut eam facias decollari. Erectis igitur scalis cum quidam ad eam capiendam manum mittere vellet, mox totus paralisi solutus vix inde semivivus eductus est. Alius autem nomine Sosthenes ascendens continuo mutatus ab ea veniam petiit et evaginato gladio ad judicem clamavit, quod se ipsum libentius occideret, quam eam, quam angeli defendebant, contingeret. Denique inde educta judex cancellario suo dixit, ut ad eam omnes petulantes juvenes convocaret, qui tamdiu eam illuderent, donec fatigata deficeret. Sed ille ad eam ingrediens et multas virgines splendidissimas circa eam orantem videns monitis ejus protinus christianus effectus est. Praeses vero per capillos virginem suspendit, sed etiam immobilem permanentem negato cibo in carcere recladi fecit, ut VIL die inter quatuor magnos lapides sient oliva constringeretur. llla vero quotidie ab angelo satiata dum VII.
die intra lapides durissimos posita esset, ad ejus orationem ipsi lapides in cinerem )tenuissimum sunt redacti. Unde praeses se victum a puella erubescens eam in foveam projici jussit, ubi tres tantae immanitalis bestiae erant, quae omnem hominem deglutirent. Quae statim. blandiendo ad virginem concurrentes et junctis ad invicem caudis ei quasi cathedram ad sedendum praebentes judicem hoc videntem vehementius confuderunt. Unde cum praeses fere prae angustia moreretur, ingressus carnifex, ut domini sui injuriam vindicaret, gladium in latus suum fixit et Christi martirem fecit, Quem judex pro mercede veste serica induit et torque aurea eum circumdedit, sed egrediens a leone arripitur et ab eo penitus devoratur. Unde sui eum diutius perquirentes vix pauca ejus ossa cum !) veste scissa et torque aurea repererunt. Priscus quoque judex se ipsum comedens mortuus est inventus.
Sancta autem Eufemia in Chalcedonia cum honore sepulta. est, meritis cujus omnes Judaei et gentiles Chalcedoniae in Christum erediderunt. Passa est autem circa annos domini GCLXXX. - Ambrosius de hac virgine in praefatione sic ait: virgo alma triumphatrix Eufemia virginitatis retineus mitram passionis meruit vestiri corona, cujus precibus hostis inimicus convincitur, Priscus adversarius superatur, a fornaeis igne virgo sospes eripitur, duri lapides in pulverem revertantur, ferae mansuescunt collaque submittunt, atque omnia poenarum supplicia ejus oratione superantur, novissime gladii mucrone confossa carnea relinquens claustra coelesti choro jungitur laeta; haee sacra virgo tibi, domine, ecclesiam tuam commendet, haec pro nobis peccatoribus interpellet, haec etiam vota nostra, ut virgo vernula illibata , tibi praestet.
Notes
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