Eugenia of Rome

Eugenia of Rome (died c AD 258) was an early Christian Roman martyr whose feast day is celebrated on December 25 in the Roman Catholic Church, on December 24 (January 6, New Style) in the Eastern Catholic Churches and Eastern Orthodox Church, and on January 23 in the Armenian Apostolic Church.

Legend She was said to have been the daughter of Philip, a "vir illustris" sent to govern Egypt by Commodus in his seventh consulate (192). Philip thus left Rome with his wife Claudia and his children Sergius, Avitus and Eugenia and set up a home in Alexandria. Eugenia was beautiful, virtuous and studious, and when she was sixteen she studied Greek and Latin literature and gained philosophers' admiration for her gravity. Her father wished her to marry and provided several handsome candidates, but she forcefully rejected them, thinking good morals superior to high birth.

By luck she was given copies of "the letter of Paul" (the title of which is not specified) and the Acts of Paul and Thecla, which she read keenly. She then gained her parents' permission to go out in a covered litter on their country estate and during the journey discussed the two books with her eunuchs, Protus and Hyacinth (who grew up with her and shared her pagan background). She argued that all pagan religious writings were ridiculous and hollow compared to the two books and – as they continued their discussion – they heard Christians led by Helenus, bishop of Heliopolis, singing "All the gods of the nations are demons" (Psalm 96:5). She saw this as the answer to her questions and decided to go back the next day to see the Christians, but only after the eunuchs had cut her hair and disguised her in men's clothing (much as the character Thecla does in the abovementioned text).

The eunuchs accompanied her to see the Christians, who this time were singing the words of Isaiah 26:7, which were also relevant to her own situation. Helenus then accepted her and the eunuchs' request to be baptised and did not question Eugenia's disguise despite seeing through it. All three of them then became monks, with Eugenia taking the male name Eugene. She gained great renown among the monks for her piety and healing abilities. Two years after becoming a monk, when the abbot died, her community unanimously voted her to be his successor, but she obstinately refused the honour until a random 'opening of the book' led her to Matthew 20:25–27.

A rich and noble matron named Melanthia then came to the abbey to be healed, which Eugenia accomplished by making the sign of the cross. Melanthia continued to return to the monastery under the guise of piety, but, in fact, had fallen in love with her healer, failing to notice Eugenia's male disguise. After Eugenia refused her proposal of marriage, Melanthia pretended to be sick again so that they might be left alone together. The matron then made indecent proposals, which Eugenia rejected in horror. Melanthia then returned to Alexandria and accused 'Eugene' of trying to rape her, leading Philip to arrest Eugenia, not realizing she was his own daughter.

Eugene/Eugenia appeared before Philip's tribunal in the city's amphitheater and dropped her disguise by tearing her tunic and showing her breast, revealing her real name and her relationship to Philip. All four of her brothers rushed to hug her, soon joined by their mother. The crowd was converted to Christianity, while fire descended from heaven to consume Melanthia and all her household, and the church in Alexandria was closed for eight years. Multitudes of pagans were baptised, and soon everyone in Alexandria had converted to Christianity. After Helenus' death, Philip was unanimously chosen to be his successor as bishop, though he also remained prefect for a time. By Philip's efforts almost all of Egypt was converted to Christianity before he was martyred fifteen months after the tribunal, stabbed in his church while saying the Lord's Prayer by pagans paid by the new prefect Perennius, who replaced Philip following his conversion.

'Martyrdom of Eugenia of Rome and others', a miniature from the Menologion of Basil II, 976-1025 (Vat. gr. 1613. P. 270). Fifty years later, after Christian persecution was reinstated by Emperor Valerian, Eugenia was 70 or 80 years old, living in Rome and converting maidens, who were soon martyred. She was arrested and condemned to death by Gallienus (who reigned alongside Valerian in 253-260 and then alone in 260–268), who was angry with her for converting his niece Basilla to Christianity. He ordered Eugenia to make a sacrifice to the pagan goddess Diana, but when she entered Diana's temple and prayed before the cult image, it crumbled to dust. She was thus tied to a block of stone and thrown into the river Tiber, but the block floated and she was only submerged up to her knees.

The emperor then tried to scald her to death in the hot rooms of the "Severan" (i.e. Caracallan) baths, but the furnaces miraculously went out as soon as she arrived. Next, he enclosed Eugenia in a cave without food or water, but she was kept alive by Jesus, who came to her in a brilliant light.

Her former eunuchs, Protus and Hyacinth, were beheaded by the sword on September 11, 258, and Eugenia followed suit the same year after Christ appeared to her in a dream and told her that she would die on the Feast of the Nativity. After her death, she appeared to her mother, who had come weeping to her tomb. Eugenia told her that she, too, would soon die, and entreated her to convert to Christianity. Claudia died that Sunday and her sons, Avitus and Sergius, buried her. They went on to evangelise the Romans and also died as saints.