SAINT CHRISTINE
Saint Christine lived in the 3rd Century in Tuscany. She was born in a noble Roman family, being the daughter of Urban, the prefect of Bolzano. Christine encountered Christianity from the early years of her life in her family house, where her father examined the believers of Christ, ordered to torture them and sent them to death. The little Christine admired their unparalleled heroism. By hand of her custodian, she became Christian, making no attempt to conceal her faith. This made her father furious, and he ordered his 12-year old daughter to be tortured so severely that she died as a martyr, keeping her faith till the very end.
Saint Christine soon became honoured, her cult spreading both east and west. Traces of this great adoration can be noticed, e.g., in Ravenna (Italy) on the exceptional Byzantine mosaics from the 6th Century, which show Christine not as a girl but as an adult woman, to emphasise that her faith and love for Jesus, as well as her courage, exceeded that of many adults.
Egg tempera on wood, sized 33 cm x 25,5 cm with the ark.
