Saint Domnina, Berenice and Prosdoce

Summary

A noble Christian from Antioch, Domnina fled to Edessa with her daughters Berenice and Prosdoce to escape persecution. Denounced by her own husband, they chose to drown together in a river during their transfer to avoid the outrages of the soldiers. Although they took their own lives, the Church honors their sacrifice for the preservation of their virtue.

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Guided reading

4 reading sections

SAINT DOMNINA AND HER TWO DAUGHTERS BERENICE AND PROSDOCE, MARTYRS IN SYRIA (306).

Life 01 / 04

Flight to Edessa

Domnina, a noble Christian woman from Antioch, fled to Edessa with her two daughters, Berenice and Prosdoce, to escape the persecutions of Diocletian.

In the time of Diocletian, there lived in Antioch a Christian lady na med Dom nina, highly regarded for the nobility of her lineage, the extent of her wealth, and the rare qualities of body and mind with which she was gifted, further elevated by her virtues which had earned her a marvelous reputation. She had two daughters of extraordinary beauty, named Berenice an d Prosdo ce, whom she had raised with great care in Christian piety, and who had admirably responded to her zeal and love. The fire of persecution having been kindled, Domnina feared for her young daughters: she withdrew secretly, with her two dear children, to Edessa, in Mesopotamia.

Martyrdom 02 / 04

Denunciation and arrest

Denounced by Domnina's husband by virtue of an edict of Maximian, the three women are captured and brought back towards Antioch.

However, an edict of the fierc e Maximi an appeared, which ordered husbands to denounce their wives, fathers to denounce their children, and children their fathers and mothers. The husband of Domnina, who was a pagan, had the barbarity to go to the magistrate to denounce his wife and his daughters. They were brought back towards Antioch to be delivered to the governor.

Martyrdom 03 / 04

The sacrifice for honor

Fearing for the virtue of her daughters in the face of the soldiers, Domnina convinces them to throw themselves into a river to die together rather than suffer dishonor.

The three Christian women, placing their trust in God, offered no resistance; they willingly surrendered themselves to chains for the love of the Savior. But a great fear seized Domni na: ter rified by the coarse behavior of the soldiers who were leading them, she began to tremble for the honor of her daughters, and, believing that death must be preferred to such a misfortune, she determined both of them to die. Driven by this idea alone, without reflecting on the prohibition against taking our own lives, our three captives resolved to deliver themselves from their persecutors by surrendering to death. Having encountered a river on their path, they formed the plan to throw themselves into it. They asked the guards for permission to withdraw aside for a moment, which they obtained. Without losing an instant, they arranged their garments in the most decent manner possible, and the mother, taking each of her daughters by one hand or the other, they threw themselves into the waves, where they perished without separating, the mother in the midst of her children. This took place, apparently on October 4, around the year 306.

Cult 04 / 04

Cult and posterity

Their bodies were found intact and transported to Edessa where a public cult was rendered to them, later attested by Saint John Chrysostom.

The bodies of the three Martyrs were pulled from the river, without the efforts of their agony or the action of the current having changed anything in the arrangement that their modesty had given to their garments. They were, subsequently, transp orted to Edessa, where Saint Chrysostom testifies that they were in his time, and where the three Saints were honored with a public cult: not that the Church approves of their conduct in having taken their own lives, but rather their determination in having preferred death to dishonor.

Excerpt from the Life of a Saint for every day of the year, by Abbé Ch apin. — Cf. Ac ta Sanctorum, October 4; Godescard; Saint John Chrysostom, Homilies.