She was a little martyr, ten years old. She was born in a town then called Tiro, on the borders of Lake Bolsena, in central Italy. Her father was a Roman nobleman. She took the name Christina because she had been converted to the teachings of Christ. Her father was furious when he heard she had become a Christian. He asked his servants to beat her and throw her into a dungeon. Angels came and healed her wounds. Saint Christina was then thrown into a lake with a millstone tied around her neck. Angels again rescued her, and bore her safely to land. She was then thrown into a burning furnace and stayed there for five days, singing God’s praises, and left totally unharmed. She was brought to the Temple of Apollo and asked to sacrifice to the pagan gods. When she stood before the idol of Apollo, it fell and crashed to the ground. Her father died at that moment of a heart attack. But her enemies still persisted. They cut out her tongue, but she still continued to sing. She was shut up in a room with snakes, and at last, shot with arrows, she died. The Cathedral of Bolsena is dedicated to Saint Christina. She is the patroness of the Venetian States, the glorious little ten-year-old girl, a virgin, a confessor and a martyr!
Saint Christina giving her father’s idols of gold to the poor, 17th-century painting in the National Museum in Warsaw (source)
