Public executions in the arena

[gabrieleknight]

BEATA OF SENS CRUCIFIED AND SCOURGED
Very little seems to be known about this Christian martyr. She lived and died for her faith in “ager Senonicus” in Gallia (today: region of Sens, France), where she is venerated until today.

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PARASCEVA OF IKONIUM CRUCIFIED AND TORTURED AS A CHRISTIAN REBEL
The Great Martyr Parasceva of Iconium, lived during the third century in a rich and pious family. The parents of the saint especially reverenced Friday, the day of the Passion of the Lord, and therefore they called their daughter Paraskevḗ. This name, Paraskevḗ, also means Friday.
Young Paraskevḗ with all her heart loved purity and the loftiness of the virginal life, and she took a vow of celibacy. She wanted to devote all her life to God and to enlighten pagans with the light of Christ.
Because of her confession of the Orthodox Faith, the pagans in a frenzy seized her and brought her to the city prefect. They demanded that she offer unholy sacrifice to the pagan idols. With a steady heart, and trusting on God, the saint refused this demand. For this she underwent great torments: after stripping her, they tied her to a tree and beat her with rods. Then the torturers crucified her and raked her pure body with iron claws. But God did not forsake the holy sufferer, and miraculously healed her wounds. Not heeding this divine miracle, the executioners continued with their torture of Saint Paraskevḗ, and finally, they cut off her head.

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CATHERINE OF ALEXANDRIA PUBLICLY SCOURGED BEFORE BEING EXECUTED
Catherine of Alexandria is not mentioned before the 9th century, and her historicity is doubtful. According to legend, she was an extremely learned young girl of noble birth, possibly a princess. She protested the persecution of Christians under the Roman emperor Maxentius —whose wife and several soldiers she converted while imprisoned— and defeated the most eminent scholars summoned by Maxentius to oppose her. During her subsequent torture, she professed that she had consecrated her virginity to Jesus Christ, her spouse, and was sentenced to death. The spiked wheel by which she was to be killed broke when she touched it (whence the term Catherine wheel), and she was then beheaded.

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EUPHEMIA OF CHALCEDON SCOURGED​
Euphemia was born about 288 AD in Chalcedon (today: Kadıköy, now a quarter of Ístanbul, Turkey) into a wealthy, aristocratic family. She and her parents had become Christians and lived a pious life, using their wealth to support the poor.
In 303, during the era of Diocletianus, Euphemia was requested to make a sacrifice to Ares, the Greek god of war. She refused and was promptly arrested. In prison she was cruelly tortured, but she survived this unscathed (some of the executioners became Christians when they saw this, and had to be killed, too). Her body was scourged, then lacerated with a spiked wheel, but her wounds healed overnight. Finally she was thrown to wild beasts and killed by them.

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BENEDICTA OF ORIGNY CRUCIFIED AND SCOURGED
Benedicta belonged to a noble Roman family. She had been born in Rome, but later she moved to Gallia, to a town that is now Origny (France). She had become a Christian and was very active in preaching the gospel. During one of the persecutions around the year 300 the governor of the town had her arrested and cruelly scourged. But this did not shake her faith; moreover, angels visited her in prison and healed her. The governor subjected her to more tortures, but his efforts were in vain. In the end the woman was crucified and finally killed with an axe.

[THIS MANIPULATION IS BASED ON A PICTURE CREATED BY THE ARTIST CRUZIFIER]

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AGNES OF ROME SCOURGED AS A CHRISTIAN REBEL
Agnes was the daughter of a Roman patrician family. She was very young when, during one of the persecutions in Rome during the 3rd Century, she refused to make the obligatory sacrifice to the emperor. According to one version of the legend she rejected the hand of the son of the city prefect, expressing her wish to maintain her virginity for Christ's sake.
She was brought to trial. The judge wanted to put Agnes to shame and had her stripped naked in public and thrown into prison. She was then sent to a brothel, but somehow managed to keep her virginity there. When the authorities realized that Agnes could not be turned away from her faith, they ordered her to be publicly scourged and then burned alive, but the flames did not touch her. Finally the executioner pierced her throat with a sword.

[gabrieleknight]

MARGARETA OF ANTIOCHIA TORTURED WITH IRON HOOKS
Margareta was the daughter of a pagan priest in Antiochia (Asia Minor), who became a Christian. When she refused the advances of the Roman prefect Olybrius, who had been smitten by her beauty, that man arrested her as a Christian. In her prison cell she had a vision of the devil attacking her in the shape of a dragon and trying to devour her; but the evil beast was forced to spit her out when the girl did not let go of the cross that she was wearing on her necklace. During the following days the authorities tortured the girl cruelly by suspending her naked from her wrists and torturing with iron hooks and singeing her with torches, but could not make her renounce her faith. Finally Margareta was beheaded, presumably in the year 307.

[gabrieleknight]

PARASCEVA OF IKONIUM CRUCIFIED AND TORTURED
Parasceva lived in the Roman Empire, during the third century, in the city of Iconium. Her parents were Christians. Young Paraskeva loved the pure spirit of chastity with all her heart. She took a vow of chastity and worked to spread the Christian Faith among the heathen. In the year 300, a military leader charged by Emperor Diocletian to extirpate the Christians, entered the city. Because Paraskeva refused to offer sacrifice to the idols, she was submitted to torture. She was nailed to a cross and was raked with iron nails. Barely alive, her flesh torn down to the bones, she was cast into a dungeon. God did not abandon the Holy Sufferer, and miraculously healed her. The malicious torturer was not enlightened by this miracle and continued to torture St. Paraskeva. He ordered that she be hanged from a tree and burned with torches. Finally, she was beheaded with a sword. Christians buried St. Paraskeva’s body.

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REBEL SLAVE CRUCIFIED IN THE PUBLIC ARENA

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ANASTASIA OF ROME CRUCIFIED AND FLAYED ALIVE
The apostle Paul was beheaded a short distance from Rome, on the road to Ostia. Under the cover of the night, Anastasia, a wealthy matron of noble birth, collected the apostle’s relics and had them honourably buried. This activity did not pass unnoticed. The woman was arrested and brought before the emperor Nero, then jailed. She was asked to renounce the faith of Christ, but she remained firm in her confession of faith. So she was sentenced to be suspended to a cross to undergo mutilation. Her breasts were removed and she was partially flayed alive.