Regina (martyr)
Saint Regina (Regnia, French: Sainte Reine) (3rd century) was a virgin martyr and saint of the pre-schism Christian Church. Regina was born in Autun, France, to a pagan named Clement. Her mother died at her birth and her father placed her with a Christian nurse who baptized her. Regina helped out by tending the sheep.[2] She communed with God in prayer and meditated on the lives of the saints. At the age of fifteen, she was betrothed to the proconsul Olybrius, but refused to renounce her faith to marry him, for which she was tortured and was beheaded at Alesia in the diocese of Autun,[3] called Alise-Sainte-Reine after her.
Saint Regina | |
|---|---|
 Statue of St. Regina at church dedicated to her at Drensteinfurt. | |
| Born | Autun, France |
| Died | Alesia, France |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church Eastern Orthodox Church |
| Feast | September 7th |
| Attributes | depicted as experiencing the torments of martyrdom, or as receiving spiritual consolation in prison by a vision of a dove on a luminous cross. |
| Patronage | against poverty, impoverishment, shepherdesses, torture victims[1] |
Her martyrdom is considered to have occurred either during the persecution of Decius, in 251, or under Maximian in 286.[3]
Veneration
Honored in many Martyrologies, Regina's feast is celebrated on 7 September[2][4] or in the Archdiocese of Paderborn on 20 June. In the past, a procession was held in her honor in the town of Dijon. However, her relics were transferred to Flavigny Abbey in 864.[3] The history of the translation of Regina was the subject of a 9th-century account.
The village of Alise-Sainte-Reine commemorates the saint each August with a procession from Flavigny to Sainte-Reine followed by the presentation of a mystery play, the "Mystery of Sainte Reine". A tradition that dates back to 866, it has become a cultural event in the area.[5]
There are many places in France named Sainte-Reine after her.
References
- Archdiocese of Regina – Ask a Sister Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine
- Masters, Ed. "Saint Regina, Martyr", Regina Magazine
- Butler Alban. "St. Regina, or Reine, Virgin and Martyr", The Lives of the Saints. 1866
- Walsh, Michael J., A New Dictionary of Saints, Liturgical Press, 2007, p. 511 ISBN 9780814631867
- Semk, Christopher. Playing the Martyr: Theater and Theology in Early Modern France, Bucknell University Press, 2017, p. 9 ISBN 9781611488043
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Wood, James, ed. (1907). "Regina, St.". The Nuttall Encyclopædia. London and New York: Frederick Warne.