E02399: The Martyrdom of *Iuliana (martyr of Nicomedia, buried near Pozzuoli, S01162) is written in Latin or Greek (and then translated into the other language), perhaps near Pozzuoli (southern Italy), attested in Latin by the early 8th c. It narrates Iuliana’s refusal in Nicomedia (north-west Asia Minor) to marry the prefect Eleusius and to abandon Christianity; her trial and tortures; her successful fight against a devil and her death; the transfer of her body to southern Italy and her burial near Pozzuoli; Eleusius’ death after a shipwreck.

Martyrdom of Iuliana (BHL 4522-4523)

Summary, based on the Latin text. (We have not carried out a comparison with the Greek; but Bottiglieri, who has investigated this issue, confirms that the story in both languages is essentially the same - see Discussion).

§ 1: Short introductory sentence about the martyrs’ perseverance (bearing only a slight variant between the Acta Sanctorum and Mombritius’ editions). At the time of the emperor Maximian, the senator of Nicomedia Eleusius, friend of the emperor, is betrothed to Iuliana, the noble daughter of the pagan Africanus. Iuliana is Christian: she prays to God and goes to church to hear the Scriptures. Iuliana refuses twice to marry Eleusius, first requiring him to become prefect, and when this is achieved, to convert to Christianity.

§§ 2-3: After failing to convince Iuliana to marry Eleusius and to abandon Christianity, her father beats her and hands her over to Eleusius. He threatens her with torture if she refuses to offer sacrifice to the gods, but Iuliana reacts by trying to convert him to Christianity.

§§ 4-5: Iuliana is then severely tortured and sent to prison. After a long prayer to God a devil appears to her in the guise of an angel and asks her to adore pagan gods.

§§ 6-11: With God’s help, the devil Belial, also called Jopher Nigrum, is immobilised and forced to reveal himself, providing a list of all his bad deeds since creation and recounting how he has been sent by his father Beelzebub to lead Christians to abandon their faith. The devil asks Iuliana to free him, but she refuses and beats him with her chains. Questioned by Iuliana he tells of all the bad things he has inflicted upon men.

§§ 12-14: When she is taken out of prison, Iuliana throws the devil into a pile of excrement. The prefect orders her to be further tortured on a rack with the help of soldiers; Iuliana endures the torture and is then freed by an angel.

§§ 15-16: After a long prayer of Iuliana to God, recalling episodes of salvation history and emphasising God’s mercy, the torturers of Nicomedia convert and are sentenced to death by the emperor together with several other converts, in total 300 people (Mombritius has '120 people').

§§ 17-18: Iuliana is burnt alive but an angel extinguishes the flames. She is then immersed in molten lead but is refreshed. The prefect orders her to be killed by the sword.

§§ 19-20: The devil appears and tells the prefect not to spare her, but then Iuliana sees him and the devil flees, fearing to be captured. [At the place of execution, Iuliana prays and addresses Christian converts, exhorting them to do penance, pray, read the Scriptures, love each other, hold vigils and sing psalms. Bidding farewell to everyone and asking them to pray for her], she then prays to God and is beheaded.

§§ 21-22: After a short time, a senatrix named Sophia (Mombritius has: 'Sophonia') passing by Nicomedia on her way to Rome takes the body of Iuliana and embalms it. As she approaches Rome, she has to stop on the coast of Campania because of a storm, and Iuliana is buried near Pozzuoli (territorium Puteolanum), in a tomb (mausoleum) a mile away from the sea. Eleusius travels by sea but his boat is wrecked in a storm. [24 people die and the bodies are thrown on a deserted beach where they are eaten by birds and wild beasts]. Iuliana died on the 14th day before the Calends of March (= 16 February; Mombritius has: ‘Idus februarias’ that is 13 February; other feast days are recorded in variant versions, see the discussion in Bottiglieri].

Text: Acta Sanctorum, Febr. II, 875-878 (from which paragraph numbers are taken; compared with the text published in Mombritius: parts in square brackets not found in Mombritius’ version). Summary: M. Pignot.