Saint Eugenia

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Saint Eugenia (died c AD 258) was an early Christian Roman martyr whose feast day is celebrated on December 25 in the Roman Catholic Church and on December 24 (January 6, New Style) in the Eastern Orthodox church. She is included in the Golden Legend.

1 Legend
2 Santa Eugenia
3 External links
4 Notes

[edit] Legend

Her legend, considered apocryphal, states that she was converted by and martyred with Hyacinth and Protus, her Chamberlains, during the persecution of Valerian. She was said to have been the daughter Philip, "duke" of Alexandria and governor of Egypt. She had fled her father's house dressed in men's clothing and was baptized by Helenus, bishop of Heliopolis. She later became an abbot, still pretending to be a man. As the story goes, while she was an abbot and still dressing like a man, she cured a woman of an illness, and when the woman made sexual advances, which she rebuffed, the woman accused her publicly of adultery. She was taken to court, where, still disguised, she faced her father as the judge. At the trial, her real female identity was revealed. She was exonerated and her father converted to the faith.

[edit] Santa Eugenia

There is a small village in the north of Portugal with the name of Santa Eugenia that contains a church with a painting of Saint Eugenia dressed as a boy in Roman-era attire. A local legend states that Saint Eugenia passed through this area on a nearby Roman road and through Moure, which lies at a major intersection of ancient Roman roads. There is also a tomb dating from about 1000 AD in the city of Barcelos, high on a hill that reads "tomb of Saint Eugenia." It is possible that this tomb is the tomb of Saint Eugenia. During the Middle Ages, saints were moved from Rome to the outer parts of Europe by monks attempting to raise money by selling relics. Patrick J. Geary, in his work Furta Sacra, states that "on April 5, 838, a monk named Felix appeared at Fulda with the remains of Saints Cornelius, Callistus, Agapitus, Georgius, Vincentius, Maximus, Cecilia, Eugenia, Digna, Emerita, and Columbana."^[1]