Vita Sanctae Eugeniae Virginis Ac Martyris [Incertus]

The Life of Saint Eugenia, Virgin and Martyr, by an Unknown Author. Chapter One. Eugenia’s parents. Philip drives the Magi from Egypt. In the seventh consulship of the emperor Commodus, he dispatched the most illustrious man, Philip, to Egypt to hold the prefecture of Alexandria, and all the authorities that were administered throughout the whole of Egypt were to serve at his discretion. So this man, together with his wife Claudia, with his two sons, Avitus and Sergius, and with his daughter Eugenia, when they had come from the city of Rome to the city of Alexandria, and he was administering the prefecture with Roman gravity and adorning the whole province of Egypt with Roman laws, he put an end to all those who followed magical curiosity. He permitted the Jews not even to have the utterance of the name; the Christians, however, he decreed should be only far from Alexandria. He himself, although more a friend of philosophers than a supporter of idols, nevertheless insisted on Roman superstitions as if he were a religious devotee, agreeing not with reason but with tradition.

CHAPTER II. Eugenia is taught philosophy. She rejects the marriage suit of Aquilius, the consul’s son. A husband is to be chosen by character, not by ancestry. Therefore, after he had taught his daughter Eugenia most perfectly in the liberal arts, and had instructed her in both Latin and Greek eloquence, he also permitted her to be taught philosophy. For she was of keen intellect, and so capable of memory that whatever she once grasped by hearing or reading, she retained forever. Eugenia was, moreover, beautiful of face and elegant of body, but more beautiful in mind and more comely in chastity. Therefore, when in her fifteenth year she was sought as a bride by Aquilius, the son of the consul Aquilius, she was brought to Rome with her mother and brothers, and with the eunuchs Protus and Hyacinthus, who were castrated; she herself, bound with a heavy stone, was thrown into the Tiber River, and having been saved from there, she received her consummation by the sword. The Menaea of December also briefly recount her life in a few iambics.

The acts of hers, described by Metaphrastes, are extant in Lipomanus, volume V, and Surius, volume VI, translated by Gentianus Hervetus. These, however, plainly agree with the Acts brought forward by Metaphrastes, arranged in the same order; so that either this is an ancient translation rendered more closely from Metaphrastes, or certainly this translator and Metaphrastes have drawn from the same source—the latter being perhaps more likely; since both the new translation of Metaphrastes has some things said more fully, and this ancient translation has some things which are lacking in the new. Unless one prefers that Metaphrastes translated this Latin text into Greek, since he proceeds in the same order and at times seems not to have understood the Latin text well. Indeed, what is said here in chapter I concerning the seventh consulship of Commodus, he himself understood as the seventh year of Commodus’ reign, plainly erroneously, as I shall soon say. The following authors also, who were older than Metaphrastes, made mention of Eugenia, whom it is probable they derived from this Latin source.

Avitus, bishop of Vienne, mentions Eugenia as a most celebrated martyr in his poem to his sister Fuscina on the praise of chastity (book VI, chapter 2). Fortunatus (book VII, poem 4) on virginity, and Aldhelm also on the praise of virginity. Rosweydus. She is asked by her father whether she would consent to a young man of most illustrious birth who was seeking her hand. She replied: "A husband is to be chosen by character, not by birth; for it is he himself, not his parents, that one is to use." Therefore, when she resisted the requests of one suitor after another with a mind set on chastity, the teaching of the most blessed Apostle Paul came into her hands; and although she lived under utterly pagan parents, she began to be a Christian at heart. CHAPTER III. Christians at Alexandria are ordered to depart. She rejects the sects of the philosophers. The monastery of Saint Helenus. Theodore, prefect of the monastery of Saint Helenus. Eugenia has herself shorn into a male habit.

And since the Christians had been ordered to depart from the city of Alexandria, he asks his parents that, for the sake of entertainment, he be permitted to tour his estates located in the suburb of Alexandria. And as soon as he had obtained this, as he had requested, and was hastening from the city to the country house, he hears Christians singing psalms and saying: "All the gods of the Gentiles are demons: but our God made the heavens" (Psalm 95). Hearing this, he sighed and wept, and said to the eunuch boys named Protus and Hyacinthus: "I know that you, like me, are educated in letters, and we have read both worthy and unworthy deeds of men, and also of philosophers." For indeed, in this chapter 17, it is said by the pagans that Philip, when the persecution was stirred up by Severus, presided over Egypt blamelessly for nine years, and in the tenth lost everything, because evidently he then favored the Catholics. You have the same in Metaphrastes. But now more than ten years intervene between the seventh year of the reign of Commodus (when they claim the prefecture of Egypt was granted to Philip) and the tenth year of the reign of Severus (when they claim the same prefecture was revoked from him). For since the 7th year of the reign of Commodus corresponds, according to Baronius, to the year of Christ 188, and the tenth year of Severus to the year of Christ 204, it is clear that between each year of Christ, even taken exclusively, there intervene 1 year, or there arise 17 years if both extreme years are counted. And yet Philip is said to have been removed from his administration in the tenth year of his prefecture.

Therefore, the Latin text most correctly assigns the prefecture of Egypt, conferred upon Philip, to the seventh consulship of Commodus, that is, the 13th year of Commodus' reign, to which corresponds the year of Christ; and thus, most correctly, Philip is said to have been deprived of it in the tenth year of his prefecture, that is, the tenth year of Severus' reign, Christ 204. For from the year of Christ 194 to the year of Christ 204, there are exactly ten years. And from these things, the sincerity of the Latin Acts over the Greek ones is apparent. I would have wished that the great Baronius, as he often does elsewhere, had insisted on the corrupted Greek ones being set aside. Rosweydus, with scrupulous diligence, we have examined syllogisms constructed with vain labor: Aristotelian arguments, and Plato's ideas, and the sects of Epicurus, and the admonitions of Socrates, and those of the Stoics; and to embrace all briefly, whatever the poet sings, whatever the orator discovers, whatever the philosopher thinks, are all excluded by this one sentence, in which we hear Christians rejoicing and singing: "All the gods of the Gentiles are demons; but our God made the heavens. Confession and beauty are in his sight, holiness and magnificence in his majesty." Therefore, he orders the discourse to be brought together; and the Apostle is read, and the Prophet is praised; there is harmony of faith, and by what art they may reach the inner sanctum of divine wisdom without separation from themselves, it is defined with ardent counsel. "You call me mistress," she says, "a power usurped has attributed to you, but wisdom has made me a sister.

Therefore, brothers, let us act as divine wisdom has ordained, not as human rashness boasts. Let us go together to the Christians, and as I have arranged, let us hasten. I hear that Helenus is called bishop, whose dwelling is that place in which day and night those whom we also, whenever we pass by, hear singing are heard singing to their God. But this bishop is said to be detained by the vain occupations of his church. For those who are free for divine praises, he has appointed a certain priest named Theodorus, of whom such wondrous things are reported that he even enlightens the blind by his prayers, puts demons to flight, and brings health to the sick. Indeed, he allows no woman to come to the lodging of this congregation in which God is sung. Therefore, considering this, I think I should be shorn, so that the nocturnal departure arranged for tomorrow may provide us passage through them. Thus, with you two walking beside the litter, and the others preceding, I will be set down by you at the place; and as the empty litter passes by, we three, in the garb of servants, will hasten together to the men of God. The plan pleased both; and the following night, as he had arranged, it was carried out.

CHAPTER IV. Saint Helenus, Bishop of Heliopolis But Christ deigned to show such great favor to those who believed in him, that at the very hour when they arrived at the monastery, the holy Bishop Helenus came upon them. And because it is the custom in Egypt, when bishops go around the monasteries, that a host of psalm-singers follows them, the same Helenus, Bishop of Heliopolis, came upon them, and with him more than ten thousand men, singing psalms and saying: "The way of the just has been made straight, and the path of the saints has been prepared." Hearing this, Eugenia said to her companions: "Consider the force of the songs, and you see that whatever they chant with modulated voices refers to us. Finally, when our discourse about the true God was being held in the arrangement of every word, we heard them sing this: 'For all the gods of the Gentiles are demons; but our God made the heavens.' And now, as we take up the journey by which we wish to withdraw from the worship of idols, and to arrive at Christian worship, to merit grace: behold, thousands of men meet us, crying out with one voice and saying: 'The way of the just has been made straight, and the path of the saints has been prepared.' Let us therefore understand where this people is going, and if they are going to this dwelling place where we have resolved to go, let us join the singing crowds, and, counted among those arriving, let us enter as companions, until we gather information.

CHAPTER V Saint Helenus carries burning coals with his garment unharmed. The encounter of Saint Helenus with the magus Zareas. Protected by the sign of the cross, Saint Helenus remains unharmed in the fire. Therefore, when they had joined those singing psalms, they inquired who the elder might be who alone used a little donkey as a vehicle in the midst of the people following and preceding him. They heard that this was Helenus the bishop, a Christian from infancy; who, while growing up as a little child in the monastery, was increased in the virtues of such great sanctity that, if ever he had been sent to fetch fire from a neighbor, he would carry burning coals with his garment unharmed. Finally, he said, a few days ago a certain magus came, who was attempting to overturn the people of God with arguments of blows, saying that this bishop was false, and that he himself had been sent by Christ to teach. This man, however, was most cunning, and was seducing the people with the divine Scriptures. Finally, the whole crowd of Christians approached this father of ours, whom you see, and said to him: We have heard Zareas say that he himself was sent by Christ; appoint a day on which you may either receive him as a companion, or, if you can, convict him of speaking falsely. Therefore, a day and a place were appointed in the midst of the city of Heliopolis. Zareas the magus came with his arts, and Helenus the bishop came with his prayers. When he had greeted the people, he said: Now the spirits that are from God will be tested.

And turning to Zareas, he began a great struggle of words with him. But because he was exceedingly crafty, and he could not defeat him by force of argument, seeing the people grievously harmed because Zareas was prevailing in words, he asked for a brief silence and said to the people: "The admonitions of the Apostle Paul in this matter are entirely to be followed; for he says to his disciple Timothy: 'Do not contend with words; for it is useful for nothing except the subversion of the hearers' (1 Tim. 4). But lest we bring forth this testimony not as cautious, but as timid, let a fire be kindled in the middle of the city, and let us enter the flames together; and whoever is not burned, let us believe that Christ sent him." Then the judgment pleased everyone. Immediately, a great fire was kindled. Then the blessed Helenus ordered Zareas to enter the flames. To him Zareas said: "Enter first yourself, who proposed this." Therefore, signing himself, the most blessed father Helenus, with hands outstretched, entered the great flames; and standing there for almost half an hour, with neither his hair nor his garments violated in any part, he likewise commanded that Zareas also enter. But Zareas began to resist and flee. But when the unwilling man was handed over to the fires by the people, immediately the surrounding flame began to burn him. And the holy Helenus, throwing himself in, snatched him out, though half-burned, yet alive; whom the people expelled with disgrace from the borders of that region.

As you see, the people accompany him daily with praises of God wherever he goes. CHAPTER VI Eugenia’s Request. Hearing this, the blessed Eugenia groaned, and fell at the feet of the one who had reported these things to her, and said: I beseech you, introduce me to him together with these two brothers of mine; for we wish to convert from idols to Christ. And because we have determined this together, and we are brothers, we also wish to obtain from him that he never allow us to be separated from one another. And he said: Now be silent, until he enters the monastery, to which he is going, rests a little, and when it is opportune, I will disclose everything to him according to your word. Meanwhile, as he was approaching the monastery to which he was going, behold, they also come out to meet the father, singing a hymn to God: We have received, O God, your mercy in the midst of your temple (Ps. 47). As the bishop and the people were entering, Eugenia also enters, with her companions Hyacinthus and Protus, known only to him with whom she had spoken.

CHAPTER VII Morning praises. The sixth hour mysteries are celebrated. A new meal. The vision of Saint Helenus. Eugenia, even with her habit changed, is divinely recognized by Saint Helenus. Therefore, after the morning praises were completed, the bishop rested a little and ordered preparations for the sixth hour, so that he might celebrate the divine mysteries, and so that when he began the sixth hour, the ninth hour might arrive opportunely for the meal of those fasting. While resting, however, the bishop had a dream in which he was led to the image of a woman, so that he might worship. Then I said, he said, in the dream to those who were holding me: "Permit me to speak with your goddess." And when they had permitted me to speak, I said to her: "Know that you are a creature of God, and descend, and do not allow yourself to be adored." And she, having heard these things, descended and followed me, saying: "I will not abandon you until you restore me to my creator and maker." Therefore, while these things were turning over in the bishop's mind, Eutropius, with whom Eugenia had spoken, approached him and said: "Three brothers, leaving behind the worship of idols with one mind, desiring to join the number of those serving Christ in this monastery, and today following in your footsteps, have entered here; and asking me, with tears they have requested that my intercession reveal this to your most blessed knowledge." Then blessed Helenus said: "I return thanks to you, O good Jesus, who have given me prior knowledge of this matter.

Then he ordered the boys to be summoned to him; and taking the hand of Eugenia, he began the prayer. When he had completed it, he took them aside, and with a very serious expression, he asked what they were called, and thought it necessary to inquire what nation they were from. To this, Eugenia replied: "We are Roman citizens," she said. "One of these two brothers of mine is called Protus, the other Hyacinthus, and I myself am named Eugenius." To her, the blessed Helenus said: "Rightly do you call yourself Eugenius; you act manfully, and your heart is strengthened for the faith of Christ. Therefore you are rightly called Eugenius. For know this as well, that by the Holy Spirit we have foreseen you, Eugenia, in body before, and how you would come; and that these are yours, it has not allowed me to pass over. But this the Lord has deigned to reveal to me, that you have prepared a very pleasing dwelling place for him in your body, by preserving the reward of virginity, and by rejecting the deceitful allurements of the present time. Know, however, that you will suffer much for chastity; but he to whom you have wholly given yourself will not abandon you." Then, turning to Protus and Hyacinthus, he said: "Placed in the condition of servitude, you have held and still hold the free dignity of your spirit with fortitude. Therefore, with me remaining silent, Christ the Lord speaks to you, saying: 'Amen, I say to you, I will no longer call you servants, but friends' (John 15).

Therefore I proclaim you blessed, because you have agreed with the Holy Spirit, because you have unanimously consented to the teachings of the Savior; you will together attain that glory, and you will receive it. The blessed Helenus spoke these words in their midst, with no other witness but God, and he ordered her to remain in that habit; and they did not leave him until, having been instructed by the sanctification of Baptism, they were joined to the monastery to which they had hastened. CHAPTER VIII The Alexandrians mourn Eugenia as though lost. A statue of Eugenia is made as if of a goddess. But let us return to that time when Protus and Hyacinthus, taking Eugenia away, departed. Therefore the litter, with the beasts of burden walking and the boys who went before, arrived empty at the mother's house. But seeing from afar the hurrying boys and the approaching litter, everyone ran to meet them with joy; and when they came upon the empty carriage, all together raised a cry, and suddenly a clamor arose throughout the entire city. For who could bear to hear that the Prefect had lost his dearest daughter? And so there was immeasurable lamentation, immense weeping: all mourned in confusion: parents for their daughter, brothers for their sister, servants for their mistress; and grief and infinite distress of mind held everyone. And a search was conducted throughout the whole province; soothsayers were consulted, pythons were sought out; by means of sacrifices and wicked superstitions, demons were interrogated, so that they might indicate where Eugenia had gone.

All were saying only this, that they had snatched her from the sky. Her father believed the story; and recalling his weeping to consolation, he gave festal responses to the oracles, and consecrating her to the number of the gods, he had a statue made of her from pure gold. This statue began to be venerated so much that they showed it no less honor than to the gods. Yet her mother Claudia, and her brothers Avitus and Sergius, could by no reasoning accept consolation, but were mourning her beyond endurance. CHAPTER IX. Catalogue of the Virtues of Saint Eugenia. Now blessed Eugenia, in male attire and with a male spirit, remained in the aforementioned monastery of men; and she advanced so much in divine learning that within the second year she retained all the Lord's Scriptures in memory. There was such tranquility of spirit in her that everyone said she was one of the angels. For who could detect that she was a woman, whom the virtues of Christ and immaculate virginity protected, so that she was admirable even to men? For her speech was humble in charity, clear in moderation, free from vices, and shunning eloquence; she surpassed all in humility. No one was found earlier than she at prayer; she became all things to all: she consoled the sad, rejoiced with the joyful, calmed the angry with a single word of hers, and edified the proud by her own example, so that he would delight in believing himself changed from a wolf into a sheep.

She was so pleasing to God that whenever she visited anyone in grief, all sorrow immediately departed and all festivity arrived. Her companions Hyacinthus and Protus accompanied her and were obedient to her in all things. CHAPTER X. She is compelled to preside over the monastery. She performs the most menial tasks. She is most diligent in the hours of prayer. Therefore, in the third year after her conversion, the abbot who was over the brothers in the monastery passed away to the Lord. After his departure, it seemed good to all to choose the blessed Eugenia as their abbot. Then the blessed Eugenia, fearing to be set over men contrary to the rule, and likewise fearing to spurn them all entreating her unanimously, said to them: "I beseech you, bring the Gospel here in the present." When it had been brought, she said: "Whenever Christians have something to choose, Christ is to be heard before all else. Let us see, therefore, in this election of yours, what he himself commands, so that we may attend both to your commands and to his precepts." And turning the codex, she came to a place and began to read, saying: "Jesus said to his disciples: 'You know that the princes of the nations are greater than those over whom they rule, and they bear their principate. But among you it is not so: but if anyone among you wishes to be first, let him be your last; and if anyone among you wishes to be master, let him be your servant.'" (Matthew 20)

After saying this, she added: "Behold," she said, "obedient also to your commands, I have decided to accept the primacy and to obey the Lord's instructions: I place myself last in your charity." The whole community rejoiced at her consent; yet she herself, before all others, undertook the work of the monastery which the lowliest person was accustomed to perform: in everything, carrying water, cutting wood, performing the cleaning. She even chose a dwelling for herself in the place where the monastery's doorkeeper lived, so as not to show herself superior even to him. She diligently attended to the brothers' meals and steadfastly maintained the order of singing psalms to God: she was so devoted to the hours of terce, sext, none, vespers, and the night and morning offices that she seemed already lost to God if any space of time, even a moment, passed without divine praises. Thus she began to be so dear to God in this work that she drove demons from possessed bodies and opened the eyes of the blind. But since I intend to relate many things individually in order, as far as brevity permits, let us proceed.

CHAPTER XI. She cures Melanthia of quartan fever with holy oil. A certain matron of Alexandria, more distinguished than the other matrons, named Melanthia, hearing of her reputation, came to her, because she was grievously afflicted with quartan fever, and had been for a year and more. When blessed Eugenia had anointed her with oil, she immediately vomited forth all the violence of the fever. And having been restored to full health, she hastened on foot to her own lodging, which she possessed near the monastery. Meanwhile, she prepared gifts, filled three silver cups with solidi, and sent these to blessed Eugenia in gratitude for her healing. Eugenia, gladly returning what she had sent, said: "We abound and superabound in all good things. Hence I urge and advise you, dearest parent Melanthia, to distribute these to the needy and those suffering want." CHAPTER XII. Melanthia burns with incestuous love for Eugenia. Eugenia resists strongly. Hearing this, Melanthia was saddened; and coming, she began to beg and to promise greater things. She became a constant companion to blessed Eugenia, and perceiving in nothing that she was a woman, she was deceived by the elegance of her youth. Seeing her, she thought her truly to be a young man of the earth: but she, believing herself to have been saved not by her sanctity, but by some art, slipped into lust for her, and thinking her more desirous of greater wealth, she began to offer infinite sums and to promise even greater.

And when she had prayed more often, and saw that what she offered was returned by Eugenia with a grateful heart, she turned to a greater destruction, a sickness of the soul. When Eugenia, asked, visited her, as she sat before the bed of the holy Eugenia, she began to produce such things: "An intolerable love for you agitates my breast, and I have been able to find no remedy for my weariness, except to make you the master of all my possessions. Why do you torment yourself with vain and empty abstinences? Behold, the enrichment of possessions, and behold, an immense weight of gold, and a copious supply of silver, and the number of servants is infinite: I have the dignity of nobility, this year I have been widowed without children, succeed them in my wealth, and not only of my possessions, but be now my master." And when she said these and similar things, Eugenia said to her: "Rightly does your name testify to the faithlessness of blackness: for you have prepared a great dwelling place for the devil: depart from the servants of God, deceitful and alluring Melanthia: for we serve in another way. Let your riches have masters like yourself, we delight in begging with Christ. He is abundantly rich who is poor with Christ. Let the images of lust flee from you, for that madness which has invaded you is not of your salvation. Having become a dwelling place of the dragon, you pour forth poison: but we, having invoked the name of Christ, escape the venom of your poisons, and find the mercy of the Lord.

CHAPTER XIII. She is falsely accused of attempted rape. The prefect of Alexandria orders Eugenia to be seized. She is brought before the prefect in chains. Then that woman, unable to bear the shame of her deception, and hoping to escape detection unless she herself should first expose it, resolved to go to Alexandria and approach the prefect, speaking in this manner: "A wicked youth, feigning the Christian religion, has assailed me; and while I permitted him to come to me for the sake of healing, which is said to be able to benefit infirmities, thinking me to be one of those women whose chastity he defiles, he dared to address me shamelessly and with lewd words to urge me to crime; and had I not cried out immediately and been rescued by the help of my maidservant, he would have taken me captive for his lust in a barbarous manner." Hearing this, the prefect, inflamed with excessive fury, orders men to be dispatched to the monastery to seize him bound in iron along with all those dwelling there. Therefore, all are taken in chains; and because one prison could not hold them, they are divided among different guards. After this, a day for the trial is set; on which some are condemned to the beasts, others to the fire, others to various tortures. A huge uproar arises, and a shameless rumor spreads throughout the whole province of Egypt. All believe, all condemn, and it seems plausible to all that the illustrious woman Melanthia cannot lie. Why say more?

The appointed day of the spectacle arrived, on which all the neighboring cities gathered to see the corruptors thrown to the beasts. She was led in chains, with iron collars, together with blessed Eugenia; and since no one recognized that she was a woman, the clamor of the people rose with conflicting opinions. Then the prefect ordered her to be brought closer, so that he might learn the truth from her own mouth, not through intermediaries. Racks, scourges, flames, torturers, and all the other instruments commonly used to extract hidden secrets from the heart were prepared. CHAPTER XIV. The prefect, Eugenia’s father, acts against his unknown daughter. Eugenia’s most prudent response. Then the prefect Philip said: “Tell me, you most wicked of Christians, did your Christ command you to devote yourselves to corruptions and to ensnare the modesty and shame of matrons with fraudulent cunning? Speak now, you gallows-bird, what rashness drove you to assault the noble woman Melanthia, and, entering under the guise of a physician, to drag her most noble chastity down to the infamy of a brothel?” Hearing this, blessed Eugenia, with her head bowed so that she might not be recognized, gave the prefect this answer: “My Lord Jesus Christ, whom I serve, taught chastity; and to those who guard the integrity of the body, he promises eternal life.

But this Melanthia, the false witness, we can now denounce; but it is better that we suffer evils than that she, when convicted, should suffer anything, lest the fruit of our patience perish. Yet if, by the victory of the princes, your Sublimity testifies that you will not turn the sentence back upon her, and that this deceitful witness suffers no harm, we will now prove that the crime she charges against us recoils upon her. CHAPTER XV. The Testimony of the Maidservant against Eugenia. When the prefect had sworn by the safety of the princes, promising to grant everything she demanded, Eugenia said: "O Melanthia, name of blackness, from the dark Melanthia: you have had the goads applied, you order Christians to be hanged. Condemn, spare, burn: you receive us well; yet Christ does not have such servants as you testify. However, order the maidservant whom you said was a witness to our crime to be brought forward, so that from her mouth the lie may be exposed." And when she had been brought before the judge, she began to say: "This most shameless young man, often indeed detected in adulteries with base persons, impunity itself has led him to this: that he even impudently entered my mistress's bedchamber around the first hour of the day. First, with words as if for her safety, he came to inform; second, for his own lust; and third, even to violence, had I not quickly entered and called the household, which today is a witness to this crime.

Then the prefect ordered some members of the household to be present, who would confirm by their testimony that it had happened thus. And when each was brought forward, they testified that it was as she had said. Then the judge, greatly agitated, said: "What will you say to these things, you wretch, whom so many witnesses refute and such great evidence reveals?" CHAPTER XVI Eugenia clears herself admirably. She confounds all her accusers by her sex. To these things the blessed Eugenia said: "It is time to speak, because the time for silence has passed (Eccl. 3). I had indeed wished that the crime alleged be laid bare in the future judgment, and that I show my chastity only to Him for love of whom it must be preserved. Yet, lest deceitful boldness glory against the servants of Christ, I will set forth the truth in a few words, not for the boast of human declamation, but for the glory of the name of Christ. For such is the power of His name that even women placed in fear of Him obtain manly dignity, so that no difference of sex can be found superior to faith, since the blessed Apostle Paul, teacher of all Christians, says that before the Lord there is no distinction of male and female: for we are all one in Christ (Gal. 3). Therefore, I have taken up this rule with a fervent spirit, and from the confidence I had in Christ, I did not wish to be a woman, but preserving immaculate virginity with the whole intention of my mind, I have steadfastly conducted myself as a man in Christ.

For I did not take on a feigned pretense of modesty, to pretend to be a man while being a woman; but rather, acting manfully as a woman, I conducted myself as a man, by strongly embracing the virginity that is in Christ." And saying this, she tore from the head the tunic with which she was clothed, and she appeared a woman. And immediately she said to the prefect: "You are my father according to the flesh, Claudia is my mother, and these two brothers who sit with you are Avitus and Sergius. I am Eugenia, your daughter, who for the love of Christ rejected the whole world with its delights as if it were dung. Behold, my eunuchs Protus and Hyacinthus, with whom I entered the school of Christ. But Christ proved so suitable there that he made me, through his mercy, a victor over lusts and all pollution, in whom I believe I will remain steadfastly until the end." CHAPTER XVI. She is recognized by her parents. The whole family is baptized. Peace is given to the Christians. Therefore, recognizing her, the father his daughter, the brothers their sister, the servants their mistress, they immediately run to her; and pouring forth tears in the sight of the people, they fall upon her with embraces. The news is brought to Claudia, the mother, and she immediately comes to the spectacle at a swift run. Garments woven with gold are brought, and although unwilling, she is clothed. And placed on a high tribunal, she is raised up, and by all the people it is shouted: "One Christ, one and true God of the Christians.

The priests and bishops, who were with a great crowd of Christians before the amphitheater, after those who were accused had been killed and were to be buried by them, enter, singing a hymn to God, and all cry out with one voice: “The right hand of the Lord is glorified in strength; your right hand, O Lord, has broken the enemies” (Psalm 117). Therefore, Eugenia is taken up in triumph; and so that the proof of her chastity might not be lacking to the great joy of the people, a fire was seen descending from heaven, which so surrounded the house of Melanthia that not a trace of anything belonging to her remained. The joy of the people is mingled with the fear of God; the Church, which had been closed for eight years as if widowed, is reopened. The Christian people are recalled; the prefect, while still in office, is baptized; his sons are baptized; his mother Claudia is baptized. He restores privileges to the Christians and sends a report to the Emperor Severus concerning the Christians, noting that Christians are sufficiently beneficial to the state, and therefore they ought to dwell in the cities without any persecution. The Emperor consents to the reports; and the whole city of Alexandria becomes like one Church. And there was joy in all the cities, and the dignity of the Christian name flourished.

CHAPTER XVII. A persecution is stirred up. Letters of the emperors to Philip. But since sanctity is always followed by the envy of the enemy, and malice fights against goodness, by the counsel of the devil some of the honored citizens of Alexandria, worshippers of idols, taking it ill that he had granted privileges to Christians, came to the king and said that the state of the republic had been thrown into confusion by Philip, who, having administered irreproachably for nine years in the fasces, had now in the tenth year ruined everything. Finally, they said, he had abandoned the ceremonies of the immortal gods and had brought the whole city together for the worship of a certain man whom the Jews killed. There is no reverence for your laws. Anyone at all enters the revered temples as he pleases, not to pretend goodwill in worship, and not to believe that those we worship are gods, but to utter endless blasphemies, calling them signs of stone or metal rather than of divine power. These and many similar things were said to Severus and Antoninus Augustus. They, being moved, spoke to him decrees of this kind: "Our divine parent, the former Augustus Commodus, appointed and established you not as prefect but as king of Alexandria, so that as long as you remained alive, you would receive no successor. Hence, wishing to add to these benefits of his, we decree that you show the customary worship to the all-powerful gods, or, laying aside your dignity, you shall also yield your own property.

CHAPTER XVIII Philip distributes his goods to the churches and the poor. He is deemed worthy of the honor of the episcopate. Having therefore received this authority from the Emperor, he feigns illness until he could sell off all his possessions and give them away throughout the entire province to the churches and the poor. And the prefect himself, in the fear of God and in the worship of Christ, also strengthened others in Christ. Meanwhile, all Alexandria conspired for his episcopate, and the state began to have him as prefect, because his successor had not yet arrived, and the church began to have him as bishop, because by the merit of his faith it had chosen him as its priest. He remained in the episcopate for one year and three months. CHAPTER XIX Perennius, prefect of Alexandria. Philip is struck by the sword. Eugenia establishes a monastery of virgins. She closes the hospice and erects it over the tomb of Philip. After these intervals of time, when the prefect Perennius arrived, while he sought to strike him in Alexandria and could not, because the whole city persisted in its love for him, he sent in men who pretended to be Christians, and entering, they struck him while he was engaged in the Lord’s Prayer. The assassins are then handed over to the prefect Perennius. But he, being aware of his own order, and as if they were to be heard, committed them to custody; after a few days, however, by the indulgence of the emperors, he released them, having been set free.

The most blessed Philip, however, after the blow, was permitted to remain in his body for three days, for no other purpose than to confirm wavering hearts: for, that he might pass to the Lord, he did not wish to be defrauded of the crown of martyrdom, and he himself prayed to receive it. For he who, while in the body, put demons to flight and enlightened the blind by his prayer, how much more would he not have wished to be deprived of the palm? He could, without doubt, obtain what he desired: and so he received it, so that, as a sharer in the name of Philip, he might also be a sharer in the crown; and the martyrs might receive as a colleague him whom the Church had received as a priest by merit. Therefore, near the halls where his daughter, the holy Eugenia, had established a monastery for the virgins of Christ, he ordered his body to be placed; in which place the most blessed Claudia was building a hospice, and he established estates to serve for the reception of pilgrims. She herself, however, with Avitus and Sergius, her sons, and with the blessed Eugenia, went to Rome.

CHAPTER 20. Basilla seeks the companionship of Eugenia. Pope Cornelius baptizes Basilla. Therefore the senate of the Romans received the sons of Philip with all joy, and they send one as proconsul to Carthage, another as vicar of Africa. But to the blessed Eugenia, when many matrons would gather, and almost all the virgins whom she could, whether known or friends, she would also cause to believe in Christ and to persevere in virginal dedication to the Lord: a certain virgin of royal lineage, named Basilla, desired to reach her. But because she could not go to her on account of the Christian name, she asked through a faithful intermediary that Eugenia instruct her in the Christian religion. Then the blessed Eugenia summons her most blessed companions Protus and Hyacinthus, and says to them: Gird yourselves for the warfare to which Christ summons you, so that I may bring you to Basilla under the guise of a gift, that you may make her a handmaid in Christ. And so this is done by way of the gift: and Basilla receives them as servants, but honors them as apostles. She spent every hour with them: and having them as eunuchs in her service, she ceased neither by day nor by night from conversations about God and from prayers. Therefore, when Cornelius, the bishop of the sacred law, was in the city of Rome, he came to her secretly and baptized her. And the blessed Basilla, confirmed in the fear of God, through the providence of Christ’s mercy, she and the blessed Eugenia enjoyed almost all mutual sights of each other.

CHAPTER 21. Claudia gathers the widows, Eugenia the virgins. Hymns and sacred mysteries on the Lord's night. Thus for all the Christian widows there was a gathering at the blessed Claudia, and for all the virgins a gathering at the blessed Eugenia. Moreover, the holy Pope Cornelius of the city of Rome, on every Sabbath evening which dawns into the Lord's day, gave them a night watchful with hymns, and with the crowing of cocks and the quiet of the night he celebrated his most sacred mysteries, and thus he confirmed them on the Sabbath. Eugenia and Basilia, as I have mentioned, enjoyed each other's company almost every night in Christ, and renewed each other with alternating discourse. O how many virgins did the Savior find through Eugenia! how many brides did Christ obtain through Basilia! how many, through Claudia, willingly preserved their widowhood! how many young men, through Protus and Hyacinthus, believed in Christ the Lord! CHAPTER 22. Persecution of the Christians. The Lord reveals to Eugenia and Basilia their imminent crowns. Prayer of Eugenia to Christ.

Under the rule of Valerian and Gallienus, a persecution arose against the Christians because Cyprian was overturning Carthage and Cornelius Rome. Authority was therefore given to the proconsul Paternus to execute Cyprian. Cornelius, however, since he was supported by many Romans, even illustrious ones, remained in hiding. Then the blessed Eugenia, seeing Basilla, said: “It has been revealed to me by the Lord that you will suffer for your virginity.” And Basilla answered Eugenia: “And to me,” she said, “the Lord has deigned to show that you will receive a double crown of martyrdom: one, which you have acquired at Alexandria for your righteous labors, and another, which you will attain by the shedding of your blood.” Then the blessed Eugenia, stretching out her hands, said: “Lord Jesus, Son of the Most High, who came for our salvation through the virginity of your mother, through the reward of virginity lead all whom you have entrusted to me to the kingdom of your glory.

CHAPTER XXIII. Eugenia’s exhortation to virginity and martyrdom. The deceitful allurements of the world. As the holy virgins of Christ who were with Eugenia and Basilla were sitting together, blessed Eugenia said to all: “Behold, it is the time of the vintage, in which the grape clusters are cut down and trodden underfoot; but after this they are set before royal banquets. Without their blood no power of empire, no illustrious dignity is adorned; and you, my vineshoots and the grape clusters of my womb, be prepared in the Lord. For virginity is the sign of the highest virtue, nearest to God, like unto the angels, parent of life, friend of holiness, path of security, mistress of joy, leader of virtue, support and crown of faith, aid and sustenance of charity. Nothing is so much to be labored for by us, nothing is so much to be striven for, as that we live with virginity; or, what is more glorious, that we even die for virginity. The allurements of this world are most deceitful, and they come with temporal joy and depart with perpetual sorrow: they cause momentary laughter, that they may inflict eternal weeping; they grant fleeting flowers, so that they may hand over to more withered and lasting pain; they feign security of passing time, that they may deliver to the torments of the eternal age. Therefore, dearest virgins, who have run with me in the contest of virginity up to now, remain in the love of the Lord which you have begun.

Bear the time of weeping in this world without weariness or horror, so that you may receive the times of eternal joy with all possible love. For I have commended you to the Holy Spirit, and I believe that He will keep you all whole and undefiled for me. Therefore, do not seek my face in the flesh from now on, but contemplate my deeds and actions through the spirit. Having said this, she kissed them all, and though they wept, she consoled them with the strongest spirit. As Basilla and Eugenia said farewell to each other, after a prayer, they depart. CHAPTER XXIV. Basilla is betrayed by a maidservant; Helenus, Basilla’s cousin. Basilla kisses the feet of Protus and Hyacinthus. On the same day, one of the maidservants went to Pompeius, Basilla’s betrothed, and said: “Because we know that you, our mistress Basilla, have deserved from the Emperor, it is now the sixth year and more since you, in your tender age, postponed taking her, so that you might receive her later. But know that her cousin Helenus is a Christian, and she has been made so Christian that she will not marry you at all. For she also pretended to offer Eugenia two eunuchs, Protus and Hyacinthus, as a gift; these she treats as masters, and daily she kisses their feet as if they were immortal gods, because they are the authors of the magic art which Christians practice.

When he heard this, Pompeius immediately ran to Helenus, his cousin, who was also his guardian and tutor, and said to him: "I have decided to celebrate my marriage within these three days; for that reason, let me see my betrothed, whom the most invincible rulers of the world have commanded to become my wife." When he heard this, Helenus realized the matter had been betrayed, and said to him: "As long as the years of her minority passed, I exercised my guardianship over her on account of her father's brotherhood and for the sake of her upbringing itself; but now, since she has begun to be her own mistress, she wishes to be in her own power. Therefore, if you desire to see her, it will be her decision, not my command." CHAPTER XXV. Basilla rejects a meeting with her betrothed Pompeius. The calumny of Pompeius against the Christians. Hearing this, Pompeius began to burn more vehemently; and going to Basilla's house, he ordered that it be announced to the doorkeepers. To him these words were sent by Basilla: "Know that I have absolutely no reason to see you, nor to hear you, nor to greet you." Hearing this, he was greatly disturbed; and, using almost all the favor of the senators, he prostrated himself before the Emperor, saying: "Come to the aid of your Romans, most sacred rulers, and separate from this city the new gods whom Eugenia brought with her when she came from Egypt. For it has been a long time that those who are called Christians have been harming the republic, who mock the sacrosanct ceremonies of our laws and our omnipotent gods, despising them as if they were empty images.

They also pervert the very laws of nature, they separate marriages, they attach to themselves the affections of betrothed women, and they say it is unjust if a bride accepts her own bridegroom. What shall we do, most pious Emperors? Gods have been found who forbid men, and to whom will these things seem just, if no men are born over whom rule can be exercised? Where is the restoration of Roman strength? Where are the revived contests of the Roman army? For whom will your victorious right hands bend the necks of enemies, if wives are no longer to be had, if we lose our brides and remain silent? CHAPTER XXVI. The Sentence of the Emperor Gallienus against Basilla. Basilla is run through with a sword for love of chastity. Protus and Hyacinthus are beheaded. While he was pursuing these and similar arguments, and the whole Senate was pouring forth these matters with tearful lamentation, the Emperor Gallienus decreed that Basilla should either accept her bridegroom or die by the sword; and that Eugenia should either sacrifice to the gods or perish cruelly; and he gave license that whoever should hide a Christian in his house should be punished. Basilla is summoned to accept her bridegroom. She says that she has the King of kings as her bridegroom, who is Christ the Son of God. And when she had said this, she was run through with a sword. Immediately Protus and Hyacinthus are seized, they are dragged to the temple; but while they were making their prayer, the statue of Jupiter, to which they were being led to sacrifice, fell at their feet; and it was so shattered that where it had been, it was not visible.

They attribute this not to divine power but to the art of magic, and Nicetius, the prefect of the city, orders them to be beheaded. CHAPTER XXVII. The splendid testimony of Eugenia concerning the chastity of the Church. He also summoned Eugenia to him and began to demand from her a discourse on the magic arts. But she, steadfastly opening her mouth, said: I promise you that our art is more powerful: for our Master has a Father without any mother, and a mother without a father. Indeed, the Father begot him in such a way that he never knew a woman at all; the mother bore him in such a way that she did not know a male at all. He himself has a virgin wife, who daily bears him sons, and she bears him countless sons, daily joining her own flesh to his flesh. Her kisses are ceaselessly united with him; they endure entirely in each other's love, and they subsist with such integrity that all virginity, all charity, and all integrity are derived from their union.

CHAPTER XXVIII. Eugenia is led to the temple of Diana. The prayer of Eugenia. At the prayers of Eugenia, the temple of Diana collapses. The Emperor's sentence against Eugenia. Eugenia, cast into the Tiber, does not sink. Hearing these things, Nicetius was astounded; and lest it reach the Emperor that he had gladly listened to her, he ordered her to be led to the temple of Diana. And so the executioner, standing over her, said to her: "Redeem your life, your patrimony, Eugenia, and sacrifice to the goddess Diana." Then the blessed Eugenia, stretching out her hands, began to pray and say: "God, who knows the secrets of my heart, who preserved my sincere virginity in your love, who deigned to unite me with your son, my Lord Jesus Christ, who made your Holy Spirit reign in me, be present to me now in the confession of your name, so that all who adore this idol and who glory in their images may be confounded." And while she prayed, an earthquake occurred in that same place; and the foundations of that temple itself were sunk together with the idol itself, so that nothing else remained except the sole altar which stood before the door of the temple, at which the blessed Eugenia was standing. These things were done on the island of Lycaonia before all who were following the contest of Eugenia. A crowd of the Roman people gathered, and there was varied acclamation. Some say she is innocent, others a sorceress. These things are reported to the prefect; the prefect reports them to the Emperor. The Emperor orders her to be bound with a stone and cast into the Tiber; but immediately the stone was shattered.

The blessed Eugenia, however, sitting thus, was borne upon the river water, so that it appeared to all Christians that he who had been with Peter in the sea, lest he sink, was with Eugenia in the river, lest she be swallowed up. CHAPTER XXIX. She remains unharmed by the fire of the baths. She is fed in prison by Christ. She is struck by the sword. Then, taken up from there, she is thrown into the furnaces of the Baths of Severiana: which were so immediately extinguished that the heat of the baths grew cold, so that all the fires of the wood came to nothing. Finally, they made such a chaos that they could no longer be used thereafter. After this, she is sent into a dark prison, and is ordered to receive no food for ten days, and to see no light at all. But there, such a great splendor abounded daily that, when the blessed Eugenia came out, she seemed to radiate like some light. Moreover, the Savior appeared to her, bearing in his hand a bread of snowy whiteness and of immense sweetness and grace, and said to her: "Eugenia, receive food from my hand. I am your Savior, whom you have loved and do love with the whole intention of your mind and spirit. On the same day on which I descended to earth, I shall receive you into heaven." And saying this, he departed. On the very day of the Lord's birth, a gladiator was sent, who struck her while she was placed in prison, and her body was taken up by her Christian relatives, and was placed not far from the city on the Via Latina, on her own estate, where she herself had buried the bodies of many saints.

CHAPTER XXX. She Appears to Her Mother and Predicts Her Death. Claudia, however, her mother, while weeping at her tomb, appeared to her, as she was keeping vigil in the silence of midnight, clad in a gold-woven robe, with a great multitude of people, and said to her: “Rejoice and be glad, because Christ has brought me into the exultation of the saints, and my father into the number of the patriarchs. Behold, on the Lord’s Day he will also receive you into everlasting joy. Commend to your sons, my brothers, that they keep the sign of the cross, so that they may become partakers of us.” Behold, while she was speaking, a brightness was made, which the eye could not bear; and angels passing by were singing a hymn to God with ineffable voices. Only this was understood: that the name of Jesus Christ and of the Holy Spirit resounded in those praises. Glory and honor to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, both now and always, and for ever and ever. Amen.