Rewind time back to the Roman Empire, during the reign of Emperor Diocletian and his furious persecution of Christians (between 303-311 AD). Now skip a rock across the Ionian Sea to Greece. There was a state in Greece governed by a prince. He and his wife were pagans, just like most people of the time. That's just how it was. Don't be a hater.
The prince had a doctor from Rome serving in his palace, a Christian named Publius. Publius spoke passionately about the Catholic faith to the prince, and he and his wife converted, receiving Baptism and getting super-into this whole Jesus thing. They even named their daughter Philomena - or, more accurately to how it was spelled in Latin at the time, "Filumena," which means "Daughter of the Light."
Philomena grew up a devoted Christian from day one, and decided early on that she would be a consecrated virgin in service of the Lord - basically, she wanted to grow up to be a nun. But that desire got tested to its limits very quickly.
Emperor Diocletian, in his hatred of Christians and his love of land and money, threatened the prince with war. The prince, his wife, and Philomena went to Diocletian's palace in Rome to try and stop the madness. Diocletian took one look at Philomena and fell madly in love. (He was about 60 years old at the time, and she was 13. Yeah, it's gross. This stuff happened in the ancient world.)
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| Diocletian, fix your nose, bruh. |
Diocletian told the prince, "Hey bro, lemme cut a deal with you. I'll call off this whole war thing. In fact, I'll do you one better and give you a huge amount of money and power. All I want is to marry your daughter." (Which would totally have been romantic if he was half his age and she was twice her age, I guess.) The prince was completely shocked, since he kinda hadn't expected this dramatic reversal. He was all like, "Heck yes," but Philomena was all like, "Nah bro, I'm good."
Philomena's own father and mother, the ones who raised her to be such a good Christian, were like, "OMG PLZ DO THIS" and she had to shut her own parents down. "Remember that time I promised myself to Jesus? Yeah, I meant that." Then the Emperor himself tried to convince her like, "Hey girl. What say we cuddle on my couch made of money and have slaves bring us whatever we want for the rest of our lives CUZ I'M THE MUTHAFLIPPIN' EMPEROR" and she shut him down too. No money, no power, no luxury, and not even the command of her own parents could shake her from the promise she made.
Here's where stuff gets REAL. Needless to say, Diocletian was pissed. He got mad enough that he decided to torture and kill Philomena, to make an example of her to all those unruly Christians out there in the world who might defy him. First, he had her beaten and whipped and thrown in prison, where she stayed for 37 days. Every day the emperor would come to her, sometimes trying to convince her to sleep with him, sometimes torturing her, and sometimes just straight-up trying to rape her. But God always saw to it that her virginity was protected, and she spent every night in prayer.
After 37 days of this madness, the Virgin Mary appeared to Philomena, holding baby Jesus in her arms, and said, "Don't worry. I've got your back. Things are going to get even worse really soon, but just hold on."
Soon after that, Diocletian realized that this approach wasn't working. At this point, it wasn't just about getting the girl he wanted. This guy was an egomaniac and had a special hatred for Christians, and to him, Philomena represented everything he wanted to destroy and consume and take for himself and trample under his feet. So he took her out to a public square and had her stripped and scourged, mocking her by making her suffer the same punishment Jesus did on the way to the Cross. But still, STILL, she would not give in.
Diocletian threw her in prison, expecting her to die of her massive, gaping, bloody wounds that night. But she prayed for help, and two angels came and poured healing balm on her wounds. The next morning, when the emperor came to the cell, she was totally fine, and actually felt better than she had even before the torture.
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| That thing in her right hand? That's the spiky death whip she got beaten with. No big deal. |
The emperor was shocked. He thought that Jupiter, the father of the Roman gods, had anointed her. He made one last offer to her, the greatest offer yet - she could be the first-ever Empress of Rome, with more riches, power, and honor than any woman had ever been granted in the history of the world. And still she said no.
When she declined, Diocletian lost it completely. He had his guards chain her by the neck to a heavy boat anchor and throw her in the Tiber River. But as she sank into the water, two angels again came to her, unfastened the anchor, and lifted her out of the water, in full view of everyone standing on the riverbank. When they set her down on the ground, not only was she not dead - she wasn't even wet.
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| So kids, when you're torturing virgins, ALWAYS remember to lock your anchors SECURELY around their necks. |
Nobody could quite believe what they were seeing, least of all the emperor. He had her dragged through the streets and then shot full of arrows by a firing squad of archers. But even though she was a human pincushion, she survived, and God healed of her wounds yet again.
At this point, the emperor was convinced, as any devout pagan would be, that Philomena was protected by some kind of magic. Fire was believed to have powerful magical properties, so he commanded that she be shot full of arrows again, but this time the metal arrowheads would be forged in a furnace and shot at her while they were still red-hot. This is the craziest thing yet: the arrows made it halfway to her, TURNED AROUND IN MIDAIR, and hit the firing squad instead. Six of the archers died instantly. Several more converted to Christianity right then and there.
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| Look back at this picture again, in her right hand, along with the anchor. ARROWS. #SWAGGER |
That was it for Emperor Diocletian. He grabbed a spear himself and decapitated her with it on the spot, finally ending her life. But as she looked skyward, the last thing she realized was the time of day that she was to die: it was about 3:00 PM on a Friday, the hour of Divine Mercy when Jesus died on the Cross.
Her purity and faithfulness to God sustained her to the end, and what a miraculous, powerful end it was. But, as with all saints, even though she died, her story didn't end there. There is more to tell.
