A Biographical Dictionary of the Celebrated Women of Every Age and Country/Barbe
BARBE, a Virgin and Martyr of Nicomedia, in Asia Minor, flourished in the Reign of Maximin.
Her father was a Pagan, rich and of illustrious birth. To beauty, Barbe joined fine taste and a cultivated mind, which felt dissatisfaction at the fables imposed on her belief. Scorning idols, and zealous to know the Creator of all things, she learned that a wise man of Alexandria, named Origen, preached an only and true God. Filled with joy at the news, she wrote to him secretly, to engage him to instruct her in the religion he professed. His answer, brought by a priest named Valentine, so satisfied her mind, that she was baptized by him. With the advantages she possessed, she was sought in marriage by the most distinguished young men in the city; and Dioscorus, her father, one day told her, it was time to think of changing her situation: but she prayed him not to constrain her to make a choice, observing that she would rather die: she then discovered her religion to him, and spoke with contempt of Paganism. Irritated at the discovery, her father himself denounced her as a Christian; and, after her experiencing the most cruel and barbarous punishment, he is reported to have himself severed her head from her body.