From: trudie.Miller@cox.net   
      
   March 13th - St. Euphrasia of Constantinople V (RM)   
    (Also known as Euphraxia)   
      
   Born in Constantinople, Byzantium; died c. 420. Saint Euphrasia's father,   
   Antigonus, was a blood relative of Emperor Theodosius I. Her mother,   
   Eupraxia, was no less illustrious for her birth and virtue. Because of his   
   close ties with her parents and the fact that she was an only child, the   
   emperor took an interest in Euphrasia and, when she was only five, found her   
   a rich senator for her future husband. After her birth, her pious parents   
   mutually consented and vowed themselves to perpetual continence. From that   
   time they lived together as brother and sister in order to devote themselves   
   to prayer, alms-giving, and penance.   
      
   Antigonus died within a year, and the holy widow withdrew with her daughter   
   to her large estates in Egypt in order to avoid importunate suitors for   
   marriage and the distraction of friends. Near her home in Tabenisi was a   
   monastery of one hundred and thirty austere nuns, who fasted severely and   
   regularly, wore and slept on sackcloth that they made themselves, and prayed   
   almost without interruption. When sick, they bore their pains with patience   
   and thanksgiving, esteeming them an effect of the divine mercy: nor did they   
   seek relief from physicians, except in cases of absolute necessity. Delicate   
   and excessive attention to health nourishes self-love and often destroys the   
   health that it anxiously tries to preserve.   
      
   The example of these holy virgins, moved the devout mother to greater fervor   
   in the exercise of faith and charity. She frequently visited these servants   
   of God, and earnestly entreated them to accept a considerable annual   
   revenue, with an obligation that they should always be bound to pray for the   
   soul of her deceased husband. But the abbess refused the estate, saying: "We   
   have renounced all the conveniences of the world, in order to purchase   
   heaven. We are poor, and such we desire to remain." She could only be   
   prevailed upon to accept a continuous supply of oil for the votive lamp and   
   incense for the altar.   
      
   The seven-year-old Euphrasia asked her mother for permission to serve God in   
   this convent. Eupraxia joyfully gave permission and soon after presented   
   Euphrasia to the abbess, who, taking up an image of Christ, gave it into her   
   hands. The tender virgin kissed it, saying: "By vow I consecrate myself to   
   Christ." Then the mother led her before an image of our Redeemer, and   
   lifting up her hands to heaven, said: "Lord Jesus Christ, receive this child   
   under your special protection. She seeks and loves You alone and commends   
   herself only to You." Then turning to her dear daughter, she said: "May God,   
   who laid the foundations of the mountains, strengthen you always in his holy   
   fear." And leaving her in the hands of the abbess, she left the monastery   
   weeping.   
      
   At first the nuns supposed the youngster would soon tire of the austerities   
   of religious life. None of the burdens, however, discouraged Euphrasia. Of   
   course, she probably wondered at times whether she had missed some great   
   pleasure by quitting the world, but her greatest joy was in serving God by   
   serving others.   
      
   When Eupraxia later fell deathly ill, she gave her last instructions to her   
   daughter: "Fear God, honor your sisters, and serve them with humility. Never   
   think of what you have been, nor say to yourself that you are of royal   
   extraction. Be humble and poor on earth, that you may be rich in heaven."   
   The good mother then died.   
      
   When news of her death reached the ears of the emperor, Theodosius sent for   
   the noble virgin to court, having promised her in marriage to a favorite   
   young senator. But in her own hand the virgin wrote him: "Invincible   
   emperor, having consecrated myself to Christ in perpetual chastity, I cannot   
   be false to my engagement, and marry a mortal man, who will shortly be the   
   food of worms. For the sake of my parents, be pleased to distribute their   
   estates among the poor, the orphans, and the church. Set all my slaves at   
   liberty, and discharge my vassals and servants, giving them whatever is   
   their due. Order my father's stewards to acquit my farmers of all they owe   
   since his death, that I may serve God without let or hindrance, and may   
   stand before him without the solicitude of temporal affairs. Pray for me,   
   you and your empress, that I may be made worthy to serve Christ."   
      
   The messengers returned with this letter to the emperor, who shed many tears   
   in reading it. The senators who heard it burst also into tears, and said to   
   his majesty; "She is the worthy daughter of Antigonus and Eupraxia, of your   
   royal blood, and the holy offspring of a virtuous stock." The emperor   
   punctually executed all she desired, a little before his death, in 395.   
      
   Saint Euphrasia was to her pious sisters a perfect pattern of humility,   
   meekness, and charity. If she found herself assaulted by any temptation she   
   immediately confessed it to the abbess, to drive away the devil by that   
   humiliation, and to seek a remedy. The discreet superioress often enjoined   
   her on such occasions, some humbling and painful penitential labor; as   
   sometimes to carry great stones from one place to another; which employment   
   she once under an obstinate assault, continued thirty days together with   
   wonderful simplicity, till the devil being vanquished by her humble   
   obedience and chastisement of her body, he left her in peace. Her diet was   
   only herbs or pulse, which she took after sunset, at first every day, but   
   afterwards only once in two or three, or sometimes seven days. But her   
   abstinence received its chief merit from her humility; without which it   
   would have been a fast of devils.   
      
   She cleaned out the chambers of the other nuns, carried water to the   
   kitchen, and, out of obedience, cheerfully employed herself in the meanest   
   drudgery; making painful labor a part of her penance. To mention one   
   instance of her extraordinary meekness and humility: it is related, that one   
   day a maid in the kitchen asked her why she fasted whole weeks, which no   
   other attempted to do besides the abbess. Her answer was, that the abbess   
   had enjoined her that penance. The other called her a hypocrite. Upon which   
   Euphrasia fell at her feet, begging her to pardon and pray for her. In which   
   action it is hard to say, whether we ought more to admire the patience with   
   which she received so unjust a rebuke and slander or the humility with which   
   she sincerely condemned herself; as if, by her hypocrisy and imperfections,   
   she had been a scandal to others.   
      
   She was favored with miracles both before and after her death at the age of   
   30. Her name is still mentioned in the preparation of the Byzantine Mass   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)