Virgin Martyr Pelagia of Tarsus

Saint Pelagia came from a noble pagan family in the city of Tarsus in Cilicia and was renowned for her beauty and education. The heir of Emperor Diocletian sought to take her as his wife; having secretly received baptism from Bishop Clinon (Linus) of Tarsus, Pelagia refused the marriage, declaring that her only bridegroom was Christ.

Learning of this from Pelagia's own mother, who betrayed her daughter's faith, the imperial heir took his own life in despair. Diocletian himself then tried to win the saint over with promises of high rank, but she replied that she awaited three crowns — for faith, for virginity, and for martyrdom.

After torture she was sentenced to execution inside a heated bronze bull — a device into which she was led while still alive; tradition holds she made the sign of the cross and entered it herself. Her body, according to the account, "melted like myrrh," while her bones remained unharmed by the fire and were guarded by lions until Bishop Clinon was able to recover and bury them. A church was later built over her relics under Constantine the Great.

Her feast is kept on May 4/17; some calendars also list a secondary commemoration on October 7/20.