Description
This young virgin martyr lived in the third century. She was the daughter of Urbanus, the Imperial Governor of Tyre of Phoenicia, now Lebanon. St. Christina was very rich and beautiful, and her father sought to protect her by sending her to live on the top floor of a high tower. There at the age of 11, she converted to Christianity, being taught by an angel sent from God because she ardently longed for more than earthly gold and pagan gods.
When her father learned that she had destroyed all of the idols in her room and spoke of Christ as the Lord, he planned to put her to death, but by God’s intervention he himself died instead from no apparent cause that very night. She then was tortured by the next governor of the city, and bravely withstood this terrible pain with nobility and patient endurance. When her tongue was cut out, she threw it into the face of her torturer who was instantly blinded. St. Christina is considered a great martyr, which usually means that she was tortured to death more than once yet God healed her, and many were converted by seeing such miracles. May many youth look to the great example of the Great Martyr Christina today!