Juliana of Nicomedia - A More Detailed Biography-reference at Martyrdom

A More Detailed Biography-reference At Martyrdom

Saint Juliana was the daughter of pagan parents, who were illustrious princes of Nicomedia when Diocletian ruled (286–305 A.D.). They betrothed her to a senator named Eleusius, who fell in love with her and was looking forward to their wedding. Juliana declined, as she wished to remain virginal. Assuming it was a girl's caprice, Eleusius sought the position of Roman governor of the capital of Bithynia. He had spent a lot of money and had his family and friends mediate for him at the court. In a fairly short amount of time he assumed the post and became governor of Nicomedia. He repeated then the marriage proposal to Juliana, but she revealed her faith to him. As a "bride of Christ", she said: "Unless you abandon the adoration of meaningless idols and you worship my Lord Christ I won't marry you, because it is impossible for our bodies to be unified if our hearts militate".

Juliana stayed constant to her decision although her parents pleaded with her. She was then arrested and taken to the court in front of the Roman governor, as a follower of the religion which was then under persecution. Her fiancé became her judge, torturer and executioner. He ordered people under his authority to remove her clothing and submit her to a series of tortures. First, she was flogged, then she was hanged by her hair and afterward it was pulled from her scalp. In prison, the devil approached her in the guise of an angel of God and advised her to agree to offer sacrifice to the pagan idols. Juliana saw through the deception, and struck out and spit on the devil. After this event she gained new powers to continue her fight. She was taken from jail and interrogated. Eleusius pleaded with her to marry him in order to get rid of the tortures and at the same time he promised her to allow her to worship her God freely. She remained constant. She was taken before a cauldron of molten lead. Juliana touched the cauldron and it tumbled over and the molten lead injured the guards. Many of the pagans who were present, 500 men and 130 women, were ready to convert to Christianity. They were beheaded on the spot on the governor’s order. Finally, Juliana was beheaded. She was 18 years old.