Monday, July 30, 2012

St Julitta - a martyr for religious freedom (July 30); SS Abdon and Sennen, memorial



Today's Benedictine Office remembers the  martyrs SS Abson and Sennen, of whom the martyrology says:

"At Rome, in the reign of Decius, the holy Persian martyrs Abdon and Sennen, who were bound with chains, brought to Rome, scourged with leaded whips for the faith of Christ, and then put to the sword."

But the martyrology also recalls a saint whose story has all too modern resonances, of the misuse of the courts to persecute Christians:

"At Caesarea in Cappadocia, St. Julitta, martyr. As she sought through the courts the restitution of goods seized by a man of influence, the latter objected that, being a Christian, her cause could not be pleaded. The judge commanded her to offer sacrifice to the idols, that she might be heard. She refused with great constancy, and being thrown into the fire, yielded her soul unto God. Her body remained uninjured by the flames. St. Basil the Great has proclaimed her praise in an excellent eulogy."

No comments: