Juliana of Nicomedia
Oriental Orthodoxy | |
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Feast |
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Attributes | Represented with a winged devil led by a chain; shown enduring various tortures or fighting a dragon |
Patronage | sickness |
Juliana of Nicomedia (
Historical background
Both the
The only reference to Juliana is in the Codex Epternacensis. That it is nevertheless authentic seems upheld by a letter of Saint
Two martyrs?
Sometime after Juliana's martyrdom, a noble lady named Sephonia travelled through Nicomedia and took a martyr's body with her to Italy to be buried in Campania. It then seems reverence paid to another Juliana, honoured in Nicomedia, might have become conflated with that due to the Juliana who suffered at Cumae.
Little that is satisfactory has survived of the accounts, respectively, of two quite distinct persons.
The legend
Details of her biography are unclear. The Acts of Saint Juliana used by
Juliana was beheaded after suffering torture in 304,[5] during the persecution of Maximian. It is said that her torture included being partially burned in flames and plunged into a boiling pot of oil, before finally being beheaded. Along with Juliana, another Christian named Saint Barbara suffered martyrdom, to be likewise venerated as a saint.[6]
Alternative narrative
Juliana's parents were pagans. They wanted to betroth her to Eleusius, a prominent officer from Antioch, but Juliana strongly resisted. This left her parents surprised. Until then she had never opposed them, and she was an obedient daughter.
It is said Eleusius' dignity was sorely dented. Nursing this grievance, he made enquiries. He discovered that Juliana had converted to Christianity, unbeknownst to either parent. Eleusius accused her before the Roman governor, leading to her arrest and imprisonment. While in prison, efforts to make Juliana the wife of Eleusius continued, to save her from execution. However, she evidently preferred to die rather than take a pagan as husband. The story continues that Eleusius, filled with hate and on orders from the Roman governor, ruthlessly flogged her. After that, he burned her face with a heated iron and said, "Go now to the mirror to see your beauty". At this, Juliana is said to have answered with a light smile: "At the resurrection of the righteous, there will not be burnings and wounds but only the soul. So Eleusius, I prefer to have now the wounds of the body which are temporary, rather than wounds of the soul which torture eternally." Juliana was eventually beheaded.
By this account, Eleusius was later eaten by a lion after shipwreck on an island unknown.
Later history
Devotion to Saint Juliana of Nicomedia became very widespread, persisting especially in the Netherlands. She became known as the patron saint of the sick.
Early in the 13th century her remains were transferred to Naples. The description of this translation by a contemporary writer is still extant.
Veneration
The feast of the saint is celebrated in the Catholic Church on 16 February; in the Greek Orthodox Church on 21 December.
Since her Acts describe her conflicts with Satan, she is often depicted with a winged devil whom she leads by a chain. Other images show her enduring various tortures, or fighting a dragon. In the church of St Mary in Martham there is a medieval stained-glass depiction. In the church of St Andrew at Hempstead, near Holt, Norfolk, her effigy appears on a medieval rood screen. The church of St Mary at North Elmham contains an image of St Juliana on the rood screen.[7][8][9]
St. Juliana is the subject of an Anglo-Saxon poem, believed to have been written by Cynewulf in the eighth century. This features an extended dialogue between Juliana and the demon she restrained.[5]
See also
References
- ^ a b c Johann Peter Kirsch (1910). "St. Juliana". In Catholic Encyclopedia. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
- J. P. Migne's Patrologia Latina, LXXXVII, 1015.
- ^ Bibliotheca hagiographica graeca. Bruxellis, Société des Bollandistes. June 27, 1909 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ Bibliotheca hagiographica latina antiquae et mediae aetatis. Bruxellis : [s.n.] June 27, 1898 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ a b c "St. Juliana of Nicomedia | Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese". ww1.antiochian.org.
- ^ "Our Patroness- Saint Juliana of Nicomedia". stjulianacatholichurch.com.
- ^ http://www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/hempstead/hempstead.htm
- ^ http://www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/martham/martham.htm
- ^ http://www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/northelmham/northelmham.htm
Sources
- Mombritius, Sanctuarium, II, fol. 41 v.-43 v.;
- Acta SS., FEB., II, 808 sqq.;
- J. P. Migne, P.G. CXIV, 1437–52;
- Bibliotheca Hagiographica Latina, I, 670 sq.; Bibl. hagiogr. graeca (2nd. ed.), 134;
- Nilles, Kalendarium manuale, I (2nd ed., Innsbruck, 1896), 359;
- Mazocchi, In vetus S. Neapolitanae ecclesiae Kalendarum commentarius, I (Naples, 1744), 556–9;
- Oswald Cockayne, St. Juliana (London, 1872)
- Vita di S. Giuliana (Novara, 1889);
- Oskar Backhaus, Ueber die Quelle der mittelenglischen Legende der hl. Juliana und ihr Verhaltnis zu Cynewulfs Juliana (Halle, 1899).
External links
- Life of St Juliana in the Golden Legend
- Catholic Forum: St Juliana with details of her iconography
- (in Italian) Santa Giuliana di Nicomedia