Martyr (ca. 304)
According to legend, St. Febronia of Nisibis (in Mesopotamia), a beautiful young woman, was raised in the convent where her aunt served as abbess. Exceptionally intelligent, Febronia soon became famous for her exposition of Scripture. Important women of the town would gather to hear her commentary, though her aunt, eager to protect her from the world, made sure that she was veiled from sight.
During the persecution under the emperor Diocletian, soldiers arrived to suppress the convent. Febronia, who remained alone while the others fled, was arrested and brought to trial. Asked whether she was freeborn or a slave, she called herself a slave. Whose slave? She replied, “I am a servant of the Lord.” Asked for her name, she answered, “The poor Christian woman.”
The rest of the interrogation proceeded along these lines. Nevertheless, the judge was so impressed by her beauty that he offered to spare her life if she would renounce her religion and marry. In reply, Febronia insisted that she already had “an indissoluble bridal chamber in the heavens that is not made by hands, and a dowry which is the Kingdom of the heaven, and a deathless Bridegroom.”
She was subsequently condemned to death. First, however, she was stripped and subjected to grotesque tortures, so terrible that the crowd begged for mercy. Finally, the judge allowed her to be beheaded.
“Do not be deceived; neither labor to test me with flatteries and threats, for you will never defeat me.” —St. Febronia
