Saint Marina

Marina of Aguas Santas (also Marina of Ourense) (c.120–135 AD) was a Christian virgin martyr from Aguas Santas, in the province of Ourense. The story of her life as it has been preserved is a mixture of fact and legends. The traditional account of the life of Santa Marina points to the town of Xinzo de Limia as the place of her birth. At that time, the region of La Limia was a highly Romanized town (Forum Limicorum), through which the Vía Nova, which linked the towns of Bracara (Braga, Portugal) and Asturica (Astorga), passed. Her father, called Theudio or Teódulo, was a person of some importance; her mother, whose name is unknown, died in childbirth. Following the recommendations of the doctors, her father sought someone to be his daughter's nurse. He chose a woman named "Aya" from a farm in Pinnitus. The community was attended by the priest Teotimo. Educated by her nurse, within that community, she chose the Christian life and received baptism in the new faith, which causes an estrangement from her father Theudio, and his Roman views. She lived the ordinary life of a rural household, dedicated to farming and grazing. One day when she was about fifteen years old, while she was minding the cattle, in a place near the road, the young Roman prefect Olibrio saw her by chance and was attracted to the beautiful stranger. He wished to make her a wife, concubine or slave, depending on her social status. Marina repeatedly refused his overtures and he decided to accuse her of being a Christian. She was imprisoned and subjected to various tortures. Since the decree of Trajan was in force, the judges condemned her to die if she did not renounce her Christian beliefs. At the trial she neither denied her faith nor offered incense to the gods of Rome. She was condemned to death by beheading, as befitted a Roman citizen. She was taken to an open field the required distance from the town. When the executioner cut off her head, water flowed from where it touched the ground.