(A.D. 251.)
[Roman Martyrology. Authority:--The ancient Acts, which are not,
however, in their original form; but the substantial authenticity of
the facts mentioned by them there is no reason to dispute.]
This blessed saint suffered in the reign of Decius, under the
proconsul Paternus. He ordered her to be racked, and beaten with
knotted sticks, and then taken back to prison. She seems to have been
noble by birth, and wealthy, for the proconsul endeavoured to persuade
her to relinquish her religion and marry his son. She, however,
constantly refused, declaring that she had chosen Jesus Christ as her
heavenly bridegroom. She was then ordered to be executed with the
sword, and her body to be cast into a foul place. It was withdrawn
from this place by a pious matron; and her relics are preserved at the
monastery of Rivæ de Sil, and in the church of Tera, in the diocese of
Astorga.