A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Afra

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AFRA,

A martyr in Crete, during the Dioclesian persecution, which commenced A. D. 303. She was a pagan and a courtezan, but she no sooner heard the Gospel preached, than she confessed her sins, and was baptized. Her former lovers, enraged at this change, denounced her as a Christian. She was examined, avowed her faith with firmness, and was burnt. Her mother and three servants, who had shared her crimes and repentance, were arrested, as they watched by her tomb, and suffered the same fate.