Euphrasia of Nicomedia

Who they were

The Byzantine Synaxaria commemorate Saint Eufrasia, virgin of Nicomedia, on 19 January; the same saint appears in other martyrologies, including the Roman Martyrology, on 13 March. A pious young Christian of the early 4th century, she suffered martyrdom during the persecution of Maximian. Refusing to sacrifice to the gods, she was handed over to a man to be abused.

To protect her chastity she used what hagiographers call the 'stratagem of the virgin': she told her attacker she knew of an ointment that made the body invulnerable, and offered to let him test it on her first. Deceived, he struck her violently with his sword and beheaded her.

The miracles

There was never a formal cause: she has been honoured as a saint since before the Church's formal processes began.

Why that counted as sanctity

Byzantine Synaxaria commemorate her as Saint Eufrasia, virgin and martyr of Nicomedia, on 19 January; other martyrologies, including the Roman, list her on 13 March.