Today, June 18, is the memorial of Saint Marina.
Marina was born between the 5th and 7th centuries in Bithynia. Her devoutly Christian family taught her religious values. After the early death of his wife, Marina’s father Eugenius became a monk. He brought along the little Marina to the monastery. To hide his daughter from the prying eyes of the community, Marina was dressed up as a boy.
Eugenius died when she was 17. Marina decided to stay and pretend to be male. She was kicked out of the monastery when she was accused of making an innkeeper’s daughter pregnant. The parents told the abbot what happened. In the end, Marina cried, “I am prepared for penitence!”
Marina was subsequently severely punished. She never complained nor aired her side of the story. When the innkeeper’s daughter gave birth, the baby boy–deemed as “the son of sin”–was entrusted to Marina, who took great care of the child.
For the following years, Marina bore all these things patiently. Her virtues greatly impressed the monks that they successfully campaigned for Marina’s readmission. Marina continued to pray hard and work hard.
From sheer exhaustion, Marina died in her cell at age 25 (other accounts say 40). Only then did the monks discover that Marina the Monk was actually a woman. The whole monastery regretted what they did to her. The innkeeper’s daughter, who learned about Marina’s death, admitted her wrongdoing.
Marina’s body was exposed for public veneration as soon as she died. Many flocked to see the holy Marina. During the Napoleonic era of the early 1800s, her relics were moved to the Sta. Maria Formosa Church and kept in a beautiful reliquary.