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175 ST. CHRISTINA ■I r-^ ItO of tbe town of Tyro, which stood on an island in the Lake of Ynlsininm, now Bolsena. XJrbanus shut her up in a tower with twelve maids, who were charged to bring her back to the worship of the gods. Having no money, she broke her father's gold and silver idols, and gave the pieces to the beggars. Her father therefore ordered her to be beaten and thrown into a dungeon, where angels comforted her and healed her stripes. She was next thrown into the lake with a millstone round her neck. Angels held up the stone, and floated her safe to land. UrbanuR had a fire lighted, and put her in it She remained five days unharmed, singing praises to God. He then had her head shaved, and dragged her to the temple of Apollo, intending to compel her to sacrifice. As soon as she looked upon the statue of the god, it fell down before her, and her father fell dead from wonder and rage. His successor, Julian, heard Christina sing- ing in her prison. He had her tongue cut out, whereupon she sang better than ever. Then he shut her up in a dungeon with serpents, but they could not harm her, so he had her bound to a tree and shot with arrows ; and thus she died. The Spanish version of the story of St. Christina contains horrid details of her martyrdom, and fierce reproaches interchanged between her and her father. When Julian had her tongue cut out, 49he took it and threw it in his face and put out his eye. It has been believed in some times and places that Christina had the privilege of restoring one person to health each day. Consequently it was the custom to commend a sick person to her as soon as possible after midnight, that her favour might not be already bespoken. The <Jhurch of Home retains the worship of this saint, but condemns this practice as an idle superstition, and forbids the legend to be read in the churches. She is said to have been only eleven years old at. the time of hor martyrdom. This is doubtless the reason she is con- sidered one of the patron saints of chil- dren, and adopted as the patron of the Congregation of Ste. Cbretienne for Education, founded at Metz in 1807 by Monseigneur Jaufifret, bishop of Metz. B,M. AA.SS. Mrs. Jameson, Sacred and Legendary Art. Flos Sanctorum. Yillegas, who quotes Bede, Ado, and IJsuardus. Baronius, Annalea, Men. of Basil. Butler. Baillet. Leggendario delle Sante [^ergini. Thiers, Traite des Super - stitians, i. 258 (1777). Cahier. Husen- beth. St. Christina (2). (See Chabi^ssa. ) St. Christina (3), May 80, M. burned at Nicomedia, with a great multitude of Christians. Papebroch, in AA.SS, St. Christina (4), March 18, V. M. in Persia. B.M, St. Christina f 5) of Brittany, June 17. 6th century. Called Tinaik Kristna, or Sanictb Christiennb de Bretagne, devoted servant and disciple of the blind 8t. E[ervey or Houarne (June 17). Mas Latrie and Guerin call her his sister; but, according to Yillemarque, LSgende CeUique, she was still young when, in his extreme old age, he gave her his last commands and blessing, and died before the altar, in his own little church. Chris- tina served and obeyed him to the last moment of his life, and then she lay down at his feet and died. St. Christina (6), July 25, 20. 8th century. Patron of Dendermond, in Brabant, where her relics are kept in the collegiate church. Legend says she was the only child of Migranimus, a heathen king of England, and his Scotch wife Marona. They had been childless for many years when thift daughter was born. She grew up good and beautiful. Her father built a temple of Venus and placed her in it, with seven maids to take care of her. One day a pilgrim begged for alms in the name of Christ. She asked who Christ was ; this led to her conversion and baptism. The French Martyrology says she was taken across the sea, by an angel, to Dickelven on the Scheldt, to load a solitary life ; was martyred and buried there, and trans- lated to Dendermond in the following century. The Analecta Juris Pojitificii, iii. p. 1834, calls her daughter of King Trigaminus, and says she was led by an angel into Scotland, and thence to Bel- gium, where she could worship God