page_title: Euphemia
section_title: Hagiography
hierarchical_section_title: Euphemia / Hagiography
caption_attribution_description: Italian&#58; Sant'EufemiaSaint Euphemialabel QS:Lit,"Sant'Eufemia"label QS:Len,"Saint Euphemia"
context_page_description: Saint Euphemia, "well-spoken [of]", known as the All-praised in the Orthodox Church, is a Christian saint, who was martyred for her faith in 303 AD. According to Christian tradition, this occurred at Chalcedon.
  According to tradition, Euphemia was arrested for refusing to offer sacrifices to Ares. After suffering various tortures, she died in the arena at Chalcedon from wounds sustained from a lion. Her tomb became a site of pilgrimages. She is commemorated on September 16.
context_section_description: St. Euphemia lived on the cusp of the 3rd and 4th centuries AD. According to tradition, she was the daughter of a senator named Philophronos and his wife Theodosia in Chalcedon, located across the Bosporus from the city of Byzantium (modern-day Istanbul). From her youth she was consecrated to virginity.
  The governor of Chalcedon, Priscus, had made a decree that all of the inhabitants of the city take part in sacrifices to the deity Ares. Euphemia was discovered with forty-nine other Christians hiding in a house and worshipping God, in defiance of the governor's orders. Because of their refusal to sacrifice, they were tortured for a number of days, and then, all but Euphemia, sent to the Emperor for trial. Euphemia, the youngest among them, was separated from her companions and subjected to particularly harsh torments, including the wheel, in hopes of breaking her spirit. She was placed in the arena, where lions were sent out to kill her, but they instead licked her wounds. It is believed that she died of wounds from a wild bear in the arena.
caption: Saint Euphemia, Andrea Mantegna, tempera on canvas, 1454
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