3 January 2025 (MIA)

Macedonian Orthodox Church Calendar

St. Juliana, martyr

Lived and suffered martyrdom in Vitinia, Asia Minor, in the third century. Her father Africanus, an ambitious functionary in the Roman legions, was a pagan and despised her simply because she had become a Christian. St. Juliana was betrothed to the Senator Eleusius. When her suitor realized that she would not become his wife, he decided that she should be no one’s bride. Both men, failing to get their own way with this determined saint, treated her brutally: Juliana’s father scourged and tortured her. Evilasius flung her into jail. Juliana died a martyr’s death. First she was partially burned in flames; then she was plunged into a boiling cauldron of oil; finally the long-suffering saint was freed from the torments of this world by the mercifully instantaneous act of beheading. The noble lady died in 290.

Catholic Calendar

St. Genevieve

Genevieve is the Patroness of the city of Paris. Through fasting, prayer and almsgiving she was made worthy of the Kingdom of God and died on January 3, 512 AD, in the eighty-ninth year of her life. Born at Nanterre, a village close to Paris, she was dedicated to God at the early age of seven by St Germanus of Auxerre. At the age of fifteen she received the ‘virgin’s veil’ from the bishop of Paris. She soon became a center of controversy because of the miracles and predictions attributed to her, but the friendship and esteem shown her by St Germanus put an end to a campaign of calumny. When Paris was blockaded by Childeric, she led a convoy of boats provisioning the city. Her exhortations, supported by a miraculous supply of wine to the workmen, secured the erection of a basilica over the tomb of St Denis; and her prayers saved Paris from Attila’s hordes. She died about 500, in favor with Clovis, the first Christian king of the Franks. A magnificent basilica rose over her shrine.