De sancta Juliana
The Steadfast Witness
Juliana refuses to abandon her faith despite the threats and physical tortures imposed by the prefect.
While Juliana was betrothed to Eulogius, the prefect of Nicomedia, she refused to marry him unless he accepted the faith of Christ; so her father had her stripped, beaten severely, and handed over to the prefect. The prefect said to her, "My dearest Juliana, why have you deceived me like this, refusing me so?" She replied, "If you worship my God, I will agree to you; otherwise, you will never be my master." The prefect answered, "My lady, I cannot do that, for the emperor would have my head cut off." Juliana said to him, "If you fear a mortal emperor so much, how do you expect me not to fear the immortal Emperor?" "Do whatever you want, because you won't be able to deceive me." Then the prefect ordered her to be beaten severely with rods, hung by her hair for half a day, and to have molten lead poured over her head. When this did her no harm, he bound her in chains and locked her in prison, where the devil came to her in the form of an angel, saying, "Juliana, I am an angel of the Lord, who sent me to you to warn you."
The Defeat of the Deceiver
While imprisoned, Juliana discerns and overcomes a demonic spirit sent to tempt her, forcing it to confess its nature.
Offer sacrifices to the gods, so you don't suffer for long and die such a miserable death. Then Juliana, weeping, prayed: 'Lord my God, don't let me perish, but show me who is persuading me to do these things.' A voice came to her, telling her to seize him and force him to confess who he was. When she had seized him and asked who he was, he told her that he was a demon and that her father had sent him to deceive her. Juliana asked him, 'And who is your father?' He replied: 'Beelzebub, who directs us toward all evil and has us severely beaten whenever we are overcome by Christians; and so I know that I came here to my own detriment, because I could not overcome you.' Among other things he confessed, he said that he is most distanced from Christians when the mystery of the Lord's Body is being celebrated and when prayers and sermons are being given. Then Juliana tied his hands behind his back and threw him to the ground, beating him severely with the chain she had been bound with. The devil, crying out, begged her: 'My lady Juliana, have mercy on me.'
The Triumph of Martyrdom
Juliana endures final tortures and execution, while her persecutor meets a divine judgment at sea.
The prefect then ordered Juliana to be led out of prison, and as she left, she dragged the bound demon behind her. The demon begged her, "Lady Juliana, don't make a mockery of me anymore, for I won't be able to prevail over anyone else. Christians are said to be merciful, yet you have no mercy on me." And so she dragged him through the entire marketplace and afterwards threw him into a latrine. When she reached the prefect, she was stretched on a wheel so severely that all her bones were broken down to the marrow, but an angel of the Lord shattered the wheel and healed her instantly. Seeing this, those present believed, and five hundred men and one hundred thirty women were immediately beheaded. Then, when she had been cast into a pot full of molten lead, but the lead had become like a warm bath, the prefect cursed his gods, who could not punish one girl who was inflicting such injury upon them. Then he ordered her to be beheaded; while she was being led to her execution, the demon she had beaten appeared in the form of a young man and shouted, saying, "Do not spare her, for she has insulted your gods and beat me severely last night; pay her back, therefore, for what she deserves." But when Juliana opened her eyes a little and saw who it was that was saying such things, the demon fled, crying out, "Woe is me, I think she still wants to catch and bind me!" After the blessed Juliana was beheaded, the prefect was drowned when a storm arose while he was sailing at sea with thirty-four men. When the sea cast their bodies ashore, they were eaten by wild beasts and birds.
Read the original Latin
Juliana dum Eulogio praefecto Nicomediae desponsata esset et nollet sibi aliquatenus copulari, nísi reciperet fidem Christi, jussit eam pater suus exspoliari et gravissime caedi ac ipsi praefecto tradi. Cui praefectus ait: dulcissima mea Juliana, eur me ita delusisti, ut me sic renueres? Cui illa: si tu adoraveris Deum meum, acquiescam tibi, alioquin nunquam dominus meus eris. Cui praefectus: domina mea, hoc facere non possum, quia imperator amputari faceret caput meum. Cui Juliana: si ita times imperatorem mortalem, quomodo vis, ut imperatorem non timeam immortalem? Fac quidquid vis, quia me decipere non valebis. Tunc praefectus jussit eam gravissime virgis caedi et dimidia die per capillos appendi et plumbum liquefactum in capite ejus fundi. Quod cum nihil ei nocnisset, ipsam catenis ligavit et in carcerem reclusit, ad quam venit dyabolus in specie angeli dicens: Juliana, ego sum angelus domini, qui me ad te misit, ut te debeam commonere,.
ut Diis sacrifices, ne diu crucieris et tam mala morte moriaris. Tunc Juliana flens oravit dicens: domine Deus meus, ne permittas me perire, sed ostende mihi, quis est, qui mihi talia persuadet. Facta est ad eam vox, nt ipsum apprehenderet et, quis esset, ipsum cogeret eum confiteri. Quae cum eum tenuisset et, quis esset, interrogasset, dixit ei, quod daemon esset et quod ad eam decipiendam pater suus misisset ipsum. Cui Juliana: et quis est pater tuus? Respondit: Beelzebub, qui ad omnia mala nos dirigit et facit nos graviter verberari, quotiens a christianis fuerimus superati, et ideo scio, quod malo meo huc veni, quia te superare non potui. Inter alia, quae confessns est, dixit, quia tunc maxime à christianis elongatur, quando misterium dominici corporis agebatur et quando orationes et praedicationes ficbant. Tunc Juliana retrorsum manibus ipsum ligavit et ad terram ipsum dejiciens cum catena, cum qua erat ligata, ipsum durissime verberavit, dyabolus autem clamans rogabat eam dicens: domina mea Juliana, miserere mei.
Tunc Jussit praefectus, ut Juliana de carcere educeretur, et exiens trahebat post se daemonem alligatum, daemon autem rogábat eam dicens: domina Juliana noli amplius de me ridiculum facere, non enim potero ultra in quempiam praevalere: christiani enim dicuntur misericordes esse et tu nullam de me misericordiam habes. Sicque per totum forum ipsum traxit et postea in quandam latrinam ipsum projecit. Cum autem ad praefectum pervenisset, in quadam rota adeo est extensa, quod omnia ossa usque ad medullarum exitum sunt confracta, angelus domini autem rotam comminuens ipsam momento sanavit, Quod videntes, qui aderant, crediderunt et statim decollati sunt viri quingenti el mulieres CXXX. Deinde cum in quandam ollam plumbo liquefacto plenam missa fuisset, sed plumbum velut temperatum balneum factum esset, maledixit praefectus Diis suis, qui unam puellam punire non poterant, quae tantam injuriam iis irrogabat. Tunc jussit eam decollari: quae dum ad decollandum duceretur, daemon, quem verberaverat, in specie juvenis apparens clamabat dicens: nolite ei parcere, quoniam Deos vestros vituperavit et me hac nocte graviter verberavit, reddite ergo sibi, quod meruit, cumque Juliana paululum oculos aperuisset et videret, quis esset, qui talia loqueretur, daemon aufugiens exclamavit: heu me miserum, adhuc puto, quod me vult capere et ligare. Cum ergo beata Juliana decollata fuisset, praefectus navigans in mari cum XXXIV viris orta tempestate submersus est. Horum autem corpora eum mare eruciasset, a feris et avibus sunt comesta.
The Golden Legend (Legenda Aurea) companion
Continue through all 240 chapters, one saint a day
Chosen Portion serves the Golden Legend as a daily portion on iOS, free, alongside the full Sub Rosa archive
The Legenda Aurea was organized for day-by-day use across the liturgical year, and Chosen Portion restores that original one-feast-per-day reading rhythm
- A complete saint's life or feast reading most days in 5-10 minutes
- 240 chapters - enough daily readings to cover a full liturgical year and beyond
- Daily reminders so the plan survives busy weeks