Page:A Dictionary of Saintly Women Volume 2.djvu/43

ST. MARINA 31 ▼anqniabed the devil in the form of a dragon, by making the sign of the crofls. £L*Ia, A.A.,88, The Spanish bagiologists sometimes claim as a native of their own country, some ancient saint who suffered martyr- dom at Bome, Nioomedia, or anywhere else. This seems a reflection of the story of Mabina (12) and that of Margabet (1), both martyrs at Antioch in Pisidia ; nevertheless ihe appears in the Boman Mariyrohgy as a separate person. St. Marina (14), May 10, + 362. Wife of St. Gordian, a vicarius in Rome under Julian the apostate. He was converted by St. Jannarius, an aged priest who was brought to his tribunal accused of being a Christian. Gordian and Marina went by night to the prison to receive instmction and baptism from Jannarius. He would not baptize them until they had allowed him to destroy all their idols, one of which was a gilded statue of Jupiter, the gift of the emperor. He then baptized them and their household of fifty-three persons. When these things came to the knowledge of the emperor, he deputed some one to supersede Gordian md pnnish him. Marina was sent to be a slave to the peasants who worked at a villa called Aquas Salvias, near the Porta Capena, not far from the spot where St. Paul the apostle was beheaded. While there, she heard that her husband had been scourged to death and thrown in front of the temple of Pallas and left to be eaten by dogs. The dogs, however, kept guard over the martyred saint until one of his servants came with some other Christians to take him away and bury him in the tomb of St. Epimachius, about a mile from Rome, in the«Yia Latina. Gordian's name appears in the Vetua Bomanum and other very ancient mar- tyrologies, and Marina's name is men- tioned in the account of him by Ado. AAJ3S. Smith and Wace, " Gordianus (3) " and « Marina (1)." Baillet. St Marina (15), June 13, July 19, Dec. 4, is called in the Oolden Legend Mabtne; in French, Mabine la D^uis^e. Perhaps 5th century. Represented at the door of a monastery with a small child. Somewhere in the East, once npon a time, there was a man whose wife died, leaving him an infant daughter. He called the child Marina after her mother, and gave her into the care of a good woman to nurse. Then having no pleasure or interest in the world, and longing only to follow his wife to Paiadise, he left his home and went to a monastery and there he tried to occupy himself entirely with the duties and de- votions of the monks ; but ever and anon, the thought of his little daughter recurred to his mind and he wondered what would become of her, left alone in this unsatis- factory world. The Abbot soon re- marked that he had some unacknow- ledged care in his mind, and questioned him about it. ** Alas, Father," said he, '* I have a little child, I have left it to be nursed, but after that I know not what will become of it, or what dangers may await it in this wicked world." The Abbot supposed the child to be a boy, and without more questions, he bade the father go and fetch it and bring it up himself in the monastery, safe from all the peril and wickedness of secular life. The happy father set out for his old home and brought his daughter, who was now a big baby able to run about. He kept her carefully in his own cell, teach- ing her all that was necessary and earnestly impressing on her the import- ance of concealing her sex. She went by the name of Marinus. By the time that her father died, she was tall and strong and took her share of the labours of the community ; among others, she was often sent with a cart to fetch wood from a considerable distance. On these occasions she used to sleep at an inn where soldiers and other rough people sometimes lodged. At last it came to pass that the landlord's daughter had a child, and said that Brother Marinus was the father of it. The landlord and his wife came to the monastery and complained to the Abbot of the indignity they had suffered from one of his monks. Marina not being able to prove her innocence, accepted the accusation in silence and was turned out of the monastery. She lived outside the gate and sometimes the monks threw her a bit of bread. When the child was weaned, its grandfather brought it to Marina, saying, " Here is your son, take