La fête de Sainte Christina,martyre de Tyr Liban 195

christina life

christina life

Life of Saint Christina describes the life of a beautiful little girl who was tortured by her father and his successors. She finally gained martyrdom at a young age of eleven.

Christina fulfills the divine call of discipleship to propagate christianity among the pagans. Read on to know more.

Saint Christina is a martyr who lived during the 3rd century BC. 

Her icons show her holding the cross in her right hand. The martyrs holding a cross signifies their willingness to sacrifice their lives for Christ. This is a Holy Tradition. There are many stories and accounts regarding the life of Saint Christina. However, the early life of St. Christina is more or less the same in all the texts. 

Early Life of St. Christina

Not much is known about the early life of Saint Christina. There is no mention about her mother or her siblings. Her whole life is centered on her father, Urbain. The meaning of the name Christina is " Little Christ". St. Christina was brought up in the coastal City of Tyre, modern Lebanon. Her parents were staunch believers of the rituals of Paganism. Her parents were idol worshipers and were against Christianity. The accounts of her early life reveal her father to be a wealthy and a cruel man who had tortured her because of her belief in Christianity. 

A Few Facts About Life of St. Christina

Christina was a beautiful child full of love and affection. She was well educated and did not lack any material luxury. Her father was against the practices of Christianity. He locked his daughter, Christina, in a huge tower, assuming the confines of the tower would curb her interest in Christianity. Christina saw the beauty of the nature that was God's creation through the confined towers too. She yearned to understand him and pine for more knowledge regarding the presence of god. It is believed God revealed Himself to her through an angel. 

Christina was tired of the luxury that was bestowed on her and was greatly moved by the poverty and sufferings of people around her. She broke the gold pagan idols belonging to her father and distributed among the poor and needy. This infuriated her father who punished her cruelly by whipping her with rods and threw her into a dungeon. 

In the meantime, she had evangelized many of the pagans in her household. Even when she was in the dungeon she had not lost faith in her belief and remained unshaken. Urbain, her father became her persecutor. He tore her body with iron hooks and tied her to a rack beneath which a fire was kindled. Christina's faith in God saved her. God turned the flames on the bystanders. 

In another incident, a stone was tied around her neck and she was thrown into the lake of Balsena. However, God's angel saved her again, and her father died after this incident.

Christina's suffering and torture continued even after her father's death. Urbain had two successors, Dion and Julian. Dion died an unexpected death, after he threw her into a burning furnace. She remained in the furnace unhurt for five days. It was indeed a miracle.

Saint Christina was thrown into a cage of serpents. But Christ saved her once again. Julian the tormentor was blinded while torturing Saint Christina. Julian was her last persecutor; he cut off St. Christina's tongue and her breast. She threw her tongue on his face, which blinded him. 

After enduring many similar tortures she was finally beheaded. Saint Christina attained her martyr's crown at the city of Tyre and her own blood baptized her. By this time many of the pagans of Tyre were inspired to follow her faith. Her relics rest at Palermo in Sicily.