St. Demiana was the daughter of the governor of a district in the northern Delta area in Egypt. Him and his wife were Christians, and raised St. Demiana to be a faithful Christian too. This was around the end of the third century after the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Demiana decided to dedicate her life to Christ. Her father built her a palace on a large piece of land, and forty of Demiana’s friends joined her to live together as nuns, devoting themselves to Jesus.
The evil Diocletian was the Emperor of the Roman Empire during that time, and when he learned that a governor who worked for him was a Christian, he demanded that the governor publicly worship the pagan gods.
St. Demiana rebuked her father for agreeing to do so, and so he returned to the emperor and stood strong, refusing to renounce his faith in Jesus Christ. Emperor Diocletian had him executed, and then turned his attention to St. Demiana and her friends.
He sent an equally evil envoy to the nuns to force them to renounce Christianity, but God helped St. Demiana in leading her sister nuns to be strong, and to accept the tortures inflicted on them rather than to deny Jesus.
The imperial envoy and soldiers sent by Diocletian ruthlessly ordered all the young women to be killed. The torturing of St. Demiana continued in an even crueller way for many days, but again, and again the Archangel Michael appeared and healed her.
On the last day before her martyrdom, our Lord Jesus Himself came to her and told her, “Have courage, my chosen one. I have prepared for you the crown of your wedding in heaven. Your name will be remembered forever as it will be the cause for many miracles, and in this place a great church will be built to honor your blessed name.”
St. Demiana and the forty nuns all received the crowns of martyrdom. Their bodies were buried in the grounds of their monastery, and a church was built over their tomb.
May the prayers of St Demiana and the Forty Nuns be with us, and Glory be to God forever and ever. Amen
