Page:A Dictionary of Saintly Women Volume 1.djvu/307

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ST. EUPHRASIA 293 you no more. Give all my wealth to chnrches, and to the poor and orphans for the love of my father Antigonns who was so dear to yon." After this, Euphra- sia lived peaceahly with the nuns. She grew np very beautiful, and looked like a descendant of kings, as she was. She was chiefly remarkable for her blind obedience, her humility, and her great asceticism. She wrought several miracles of healing. When she was thirty years old, it was revealed to the abbess that Euphrasia should die on the morrow. She ordered the sisters not to tell her ; but Julia, her chief friend, who was of noble bir^ like herself, who had taught her to read and to sing and pray, and who loved her more than all the others, could not restrain her grief, and on being questioned by Euphrasia, she con- fessed the cause of her distress. Eu- phrasia was much afraid, and fell down. Julia sat beside her weeping. Ea- phrasia had baked the bread for the convent, and she remembered her house- hold duties in the midst of her terror, and bade Julia take the loaves out of the oven and carry them into the place where they ought to be kept. Then she prayed to live a year longer, as she felt that there was no penitence in her, and no time left to fight with the devil ; and she compared herself to a fig-tree with- out fruit, and begged for one more year to bring forth fruits meet for repentance. The sisters tried to comfort her, and she begged them all to pray for a year of life for her to repent. She was then seized with fever, and shivered with fear and cold. They carried her into the oratory, and wept and prayed with her. Julia begged her not to forget her in heaven, but to remember what insepar- able friends they had been, and how she, Julia, had, by her advice and prayers, assisted her in her conflicts with the devil, and to ask of God that she might soon be delivered from the burden of the flesh. Next morning they all took leave of her, and prayed with her until she died. Four days afterwards, Julia came to the abbess, and said, ** Pray for me, for Christ calls me at the intercession of the blessed Euphrasia.** She then kissed all the sisters and took leave of them, and on the fifth day from Eu- phrasia's death, Julia died and was buried beside her, in the same grave with her mother Euphrasia the elder. A month afterwards the abbess con- vened all the nuns, and bade them choose a new mother, for at the prayer of the blessed Euphrasia she was going to heaven. They chose Theognia, and the abbess having given her blessing to her successor and all the sisters, died, and was buried with the two Euphrasias and Julia. No one else was ever buried in the same grave, but devils were cast out there through the merits of Eu- phrasia. BM A.B.M., for the Order of St. BasU. A.BM., for the Order of Car- melites. AA,SS., March 13, from MSS. collated with the Greek text in the Vatican. Her Life, given by the Bol- landists, is pronounced by Butler and Baillet to be authentic and true. Baillet says she is so highly revered in the Greek Church that when a nun makes her profession, the priest prays that God would give her the grace and bless- ings which He bestowed on St. Euphrasia. St. Euphrasia (0), Nov. 17. + c. 588. Wife of St. Namas, or Namatus, or Manat, bishop of Yienne, in Dauphine. Euphrasia imitated his virtues, and when he took holy orders, she became a recluse. Guerin, P.B, Gynecseum. St. Euphrasia (lO). + 756. Sister of Febronia. Daughter of AistoKo, king of the Lombards. According to Wion, the king built a monastery at Favia for his daughters, endowed it with relics, and called it the Monastery of All Saints. In later years it was called the Monastery of St. Marino, and given to Brothers of the Order of St. Jerome. Lignum Vitse^ p. 520. St. Euphrasia (n). I3th century. Wife of Yaroslaf Vladimirovitch, prince of Pskov, grandson of Mistislaf the Brave. Being driven out of his principality, Yaroslaf retired with his wife to Odenpe. In 1233, he tried to recover his patri- mony of Pskov, but was defeated and sent prisoner to PerSiaslavle, in Souzdal. Euphrasia remained at Odenp^, and some years afterwards received the crown of martyrdom at the handsof a cruel stepson.