Virgin Martyr Juliana of Nicomedia

Saint Juliana was born in Nicomedia, the daughter of the illustrious pagan nobleman Africanus, and was betrothed in childhood to Eleusius, an imperial official. Having secretly received holy baptism, she refused to marry a pagan and demanded that her betrothed convert to Christianity, for which her own father had her mercilessly scourged and handed her over to Eleusius, who had by then become city prefect.

He subjected her to repeated tortures — beating with sinews and rods, suspension by her hair, and burning with hot irons — but she was miraculously strengthened after each ordeal. In prison a demon appeared to her disguised as a radiant angel urging her to compromise, but she recognized the deception, prayed, and beat the devil with her own chains until he fled.

She survived a heated wheel, a furnace, and a cauldron of boiling oil unharmed, and her courage led 500 men and 130 women among the onlookers to confess Christ and be martyred alongside her. She herself was beheaded around the year 304 at about eighteen years of age.

Her feast is kept on December 21/January 3 (Western tradition also marks February 16, the translation of relics).

NOTE: the duplicate entry martyr_juliana has been merged here — both stubs described the identical saint (confirmed by the Western engraving in the merged image, captioned "S. Iuliana V et M," the Latin commemoration of this same Nicomedian martyr).