⛪ Saint of the Day : March 13
St. Euphrasia was born in the fifth century to deeply Christian parents. Her father, a relative of the emperor, died when she was a year old. The emperor looked after her mother and her. When the girl was seven, her mother took her to Egypt. There they lived in a large house near a convent of nuns. Euphrasia was fascinated by the nuns.
She begged her mother to let her serve God in the convent in which the holy nuns lived. She was just a little girl, but she wasn't about to give up the idea or forget her request. Soon after, Euphrasia's mother took her to the convent and put her in the care of the abbess.
Years passed. When Euphrasia's mother died, the emperor reminded the young woman that her parents had promised her in marriage to a rich young senator. Of course Euphrasia wanted to belong to no one but Jesus. So she wrote a respectful letter to the emperor. In it she said, "I belong to Jesus, and I cannot give myself to anyone else.
My only desire is that the world should forget about me completely. I humbly beg Your Majesty to take all the riches my parents left me and give them to the poor. I ask Your Majesty to free all the slaves of my family. Please cancel all the debts people owe me." The emperor thought her letter was so beautiful that he read it out loud to all the senators. Then he did everything she had asked.
Euphrasia spent the rest of her life as a nun. She never regretted that the Lord had chosen her to be a religious. Euphrasia died in 420.
There is an unmistakable beauty in the lives of people who are sincerely trying to live out their faith. How have I been touched by the faith of others?