St. Charitina

Faithfulness to Christ when it cost everything.

Read the essentials →
October 5 · Virgin, Martyr

St. Charitina

St. Charitina

Faithfulness to Christ when it cost everything.

Traditional feast

October 5
1914 / pre-1969 calendar, per Baring-Gould (1897)

Current feast

October 5
Secondary source · Wikipedia

Represents

Virgin
Martyr

Early life

The book says little or nothing about early life. This is how the account begins.

Thin entry · the 1897 book gives only 123 words. We have not filled the gap with invented detail.

…accept her sufferings, and for their sake shed graces and pardon on the head of her master and his household. This is not the only instance which the Acts of the Martyrs reveals to us, of the tenderest love existing between the masters and mistresses and their slaves in the old Roman world. Claudius, when he gave up the girl to the soldiers, said to her: “ Remember me before the Heavenly King.” She was brought before the magistrate, her hair cut off, and burning coals poured over her head; she was then flung into the water, but clambered out.

What they represent

How they teach us to live

Drawn from themes in the original account

Learn from the kind of life it was. Faithfulness to Christ when it cost everything.

Keep their day. Remember them on October 5 with a short prayer, and ask for their help.

Read more

The full original · 123 words

Read Baring-Gould’s full account

Baring-Gould’s sources: Greek Menologies and Modern Roman Martyrology. Another Charitina, or perhaps another commemoration of the same by the Greeks on Jan. 15, and Sept. 4. Authority: — Mention in the Menologies, and the Acts by Metaphrastes.] CHARITINA was the servant of a certain Claudius, living in Pontus, perhaps at Amisus. The procurator, Domitius, having heard that she was ’ a Christian, sent orders to Claudius for her to be handed over to the officers for trial. Claudius was deeply grieved; he covered himself with sackcloth, and bewailed her approaching fate. But Charitina bade him be of good cheer; though as yet unbaptized, she was a Christian at heart, and would suffer for Christ, and beseech Him to 1 Relics at Laibach in Carinthia.

…accept her sufferings, and for their sake shed graces and pardon on the head of her master and his household. This is not the only instance which the Acts of the Martyrs reveals to us, of the tenderest love existing between the masters and mistresses and their slaves in the old Roman world. Claudius, when he gave up the girl to the soldiers, said to her: “ Remember me before the Heavenly King.” She was brought before the magistrate, her hair cut off, and burning coals poured over her head; she was then flung into the water, but clambered out. “ This,” said she, “ is my baptism.” The governor then had her teeth knocked out, and her hands and feet cut off.

Feast days

Feast: October 5

Nine days · Free

Pray the novena
with us.

One short email a day for nine days. The day's prayer, a line from St. Charitina's story, and a nudge to keep going.

Also on October 5
St. Apollinaris of Valence

St. Apollinaris of…

October 5 · Bishop
Sts. Placidus, Eutychius and Others

Sts. Placidus

October 5 · Martyrs
G

St. Galla

October 5 · Widow
← All 1726 saints in the library
Sources & notes

Feast-day sources

Sources

Credits

Image: Charitina of Amisus (Menologion of Basil II).jpg · Authors of Menologion of Basil II (circa 985 AC, Constantinople), Byzantine manuscript illuminators[1]: Pantoleon with G · Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

From Sabine Baring-Gould, The Lives of the Saints, new edition in 16 vols. (London: John C. Nimmo, 1897–98); text from the Internet Archive scan (OCR, lightly cleaned; errors possible). Public domain.

Image: Authors of Menologion of Basil II (circa 985 AC, Constantinople), Byzantine manuscript illuminators[1]: Pantoleon with G, Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

From Sabine Baring-Gould, The Lives of the Saints, new edition in 16 vols. (London: John C. Nimmo, 1897–98); text from the Internet Archive scan (OCR, lightly cleaned; errors possible). Public domain in the United States. Reproduced unedited, except for short bracketed notes in grey that we added to explain names and terms (“S.” is the old abbreviation for Saint). Some history and judgments reflect 19th-century scholarship.