(ABOUT A.D. 303.)
[Deivota seems to have been the correct form of her name, but she
is usually called Devota. Authority: her Acts.]
Deivota, or Devota was brought up from childhood in the Christian faith;
when she was quite young, she was taken into the house of Eutyches, a
senator, and probably a relation.
Eutyches was not a Christian, but he was a kindly disposed man, who
disliked persecution. On the publication of the edict of Diocletian
against Christianity, he sacrificed along with the other senators; but
the governor, being told that he sheltered in his house a little
Christian maiden, ordered him to be poisoned, and Devota to be executed
with great barbarity. Her feet were tied together, and she was dragged
over rough ground till her limbs were dislocated, and she was cut and
bruised over her entire person. When, after this, she was stretched on
the rack, she besought Jesus Christ to release her. Her prayer was
heard, and with a gentle sigh she expired. At the same moment a white
dove was seen fluttering over her; it expanded its pure wings, and
mounting, was lost in the deep blue of the sky. During the night a
devout priest, named Benenatus, a deacon, Apollinarius, and a believing
boatman, Gratian by name, removed her body, and placing it amidst spices
in the little skiff, rowed out to sea. Then a white dove appeared,
skimming over the water, then waiting, and hovering before them, then
darting forward; and they, remembering the apparition at her death,
followed the guidance of the dove, and reached Monaco, where they laid
her.