Justina, St

Justina, St.

is said to have been born at Antioch, of Christian parents, and to have suffered martyrdom at Nicomedia in 304. St. Cyprian, surnamed the Magician, is charged with the attempt of her seduction by magic, and that her conduct led him to embrace the Christian faith. During the persecution ordered by Diocletian and Maximian they were arrested together, and, after suffering torture with great firmness, were sent to Diocletian at Nicomedia. The latter caused them at once to be beheaded. The Greek Church commemorates them on the 2d of October and the Roman Church on the 26th of September. The empress Eudocia, wife of Theodosius the Younger, wrote a poem in three cantos in honor of St. Justina and St. Cyprian. See Photius, Bibliotheca, cap. 184; Tillemont, Memoires,. vol. 5; Dupin, Biblioth. des Auteurs Eccles. au troisieme siecle; Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Générale, 27,309.