The emperor Dioclesian, by the first edicts which he issued out
against the Christians in 303, declared them infamous, and debarred
from all protection of the laws, and from all the privileges of
citizens. By thus putting arms into the hands of every one against
them, the tyrant hoped to see their very name extinguished; but
he was not sensible that this divine religion then triumphs when
its professors seem to be overcome by death, and that by it human
weakness is made victorious over the power of the world and hell.
Of this St. Julitta is an instance. She was a rich lady of Cæsarea
in Cappadocia, and was possessed of many farms, cattles, goods, and
slaves. A powerful man of the town, by open violence, got possession
of a considerable part of her estate; and when he could not otherwise
maintain his suit before the pretor, charged her with being a
Christian. The judge caused fire and incense to be immediately
brought into the court, and commanded her to offer sacrifice to the
idols; but she courageously made him this answer, “May my estates
perish, or be disposed of to strangers; may I also lose my life,
and may this my body be cut in pieces rather than that by the least
impious word I should offend God that made me. If you take from me a
little portion of this earth, I shall gain heaven for it.” The judge
was extremely exasperated at the undaunted resolution with which she
spoke, and without more ado confirmed to the usurper the estates to
which he unjustly laid claim, and condemned the servant of Christ to
the flames. Upon hearing this sentence, a kind of heavenly joy and
most amiable cheerfulness flushed her countenance, which she could
not refrain from expressing by continual thanksgiving to God to her
last breath. She exhorted the Christians in the most moving manner
to constancy and fervor. The Pagans were amazed to see a lady of her
rank, age, and fortune, possessed of all the advantages necessary to
please the world, and yet in a condition to enjoy all that is in it
most flattering, to contemn all this, and life itself with such an
heroic constancy.
When all things were ready for the execution, Julitta laid herself
cheerfully upon the pile, and there expired, being, as it seems,
stifled by the smoke; for the flame, rising in an arched vault round
her body, did not touch it, and the Christians took it up entire. It
was afterward interred in the porch of the principal church in the
city; and St. Basil, speaking of this treasure about the year 375,
wrote as follows: “It enriches with blessings both the place and
those who come to it.” He assures us that “the earth which received
the body of this blessed woman sent forth a spring of most pleasant
water, whereas all the neighboring waters are brackish and salt. This
water preserves health, and relieves the sick.” Both the Greeks and
Latins honor St. Julitta on this day. See St. Basil’s homily on St.
Julitta, t. 2, p. 33, hom. 5: also in Ruinart’s collection, p. 515.