Martyr Christopher (+250)

The holy Martyr Christopher (+250) met his end in the time of the Emperor Decius (249–251). Saint Christopher was a tall man of extraordinary strength, but his face was like that of a beast. According to tradition, the saint was at first wonderfully handsome, but he did not wish to tempt others by his appearance and besought the Lord to disfigure his face. Once the emperor ordered Reprobus, a champion of the Christians (this was the saint’s name before baptism), to be brought before him. He submitted without a word to the two hundred soldiers sent to carry out the order. On the way miracles took place: a dry staff blossomed in the saint’s hand, and through his prayer bread was multiplied. Astounded by the miracles, the soldiers escorting Reprobus believed in Christ and were baptised together with the saint by Babylas, Bishop of Antioch.

The emperor decided to bend the saint by cunning. He assigned two harlots, Callinice and Aquilina, to Saint Christopher and ordered them to turn the saint back to paganism, but he himself brought the women over to the law of Christ. Decius put to death with torture both the women and the two hundred soldiers. Then he ordered Saint Christopher to be thrown into a red-hot furnace, but the martyr was kept unharmed by God. After long tortures Saint Christopher was beheaded. By his miracles Saint Christopher converted fifty thousand pagans. Later the saint’s remains were translated to Toledo, and then to France, to the abbey of Saint-Denis.