Saint Iuliani
Date of celebration: 21/12
Juliani’s parents were pagans and wanted to betroth her to a distinguished official of Antioch, Eleusius. But Iuliani firmly refused. Her refusal surprised her parents, because up until that moment she had not raised any objection to them and was an obedient daughter. Eleusis with wounded ego sought revenge. After researching and following Juliani for a long time, he learned that she had become a Christian without her parents’ knowledge. So Eleusis reported her to the prefect, as a result of which she was arrested and imprisoned.
In prison, efforts to become Eleusis’s wife and avoid the danger of death continued. But Julian would rather die than take a heathen husband. Then Eleusis, by order of the prefect and with great hatred, whipped her mercilessly. Then he burned her face with a red-hot iron, and said to her:
“Now go to the mirror and flaunt your beauty.” And Iuliani, with a slight sneer, answered him: “In the resurrection of the righteous, there will be no wounds and burns on the faces. There will be only the wounds of souls from sin. Therefore, Eleusis, I now prefer the wounds of the body, which are temporary, to the wounds of the soul, which torment eternally.” After a while, the executioner’s sword cut off the young head of Juliana.
Later, Eleusis, when he was shipwrecked on an unknown island, met a tragic end when he was devoured by a wild lion.
Her assembly is held at her martyrdom, near the martyr Euphemia in Petrio.
