Saint Macrina of Caesarea

Such parents raised their family with the greatest care, in the principles of the purest faith and in the practices of the tenderest piety. Macrina, in particular, profited eminently from the lessons and good examples of her mother. She never left this holy mother, studying to imitate her in all her actions. Gifted with an astonishing facility, she learned everything she was taught; she loved above all the study of Holy Scripture, of which she constantly had some pious sentence on her lips, whether upon rising or going to bed, before or after her meals, in her study, and in her other labors: she was so nourished by it that everything in her breathed this sacred science.

Having reached the age of twelve, she appeared as a person gifted with the most beautiful hopes for the future. Many thought, from that moment on, to secure the possession of such a treasure, and she was requested from her parents, who gave their word to an adolescent of noble extraction. God, who had other views for the young virgin who was being disposed of in this way, took this young man away by a premature death, before one could think of consummating this affair, and Macrina, feeling inspired from above, resolved to dedicate herself to the Lord by the vow of perfect continence. She therefore resolutely refused all the suitors who could be presented to her from then on.

Thus decided to give herself entirely to God, she took it to heart to help her good mother in the work of the Christian and pious education of her brothers and sisters: an elder sister is so powerful over the young hearts of her brothers, through her words and h Basile Brother of Macrina, Doctor of the Church influenced by his sister. er examples!

Basil had returned to the paternal home after the most brilliant successes in the schools of Constantinople and Athens; his father was dead; the breath of pride, which ruins so many young souls, could easily have withered the magnificent hopes of his future. Macrina took hold of her brother's mind and heart, and knew how to skillfully turn them solely toward God. She advised him to lead a life of retreat, where he could, in solitude, hear and listen to the voice of heaven, and wisely decide on the choice of a state of life. Basil allowed himself to be penetrated by the holy friendship of this tender dove, and he gave to the Church one of its most eloquent and solid Fathers.

Macrina also knew how to console her mother for the sorrows that are never lacking in any family: she softened for her the death of her pious husband, then she took away much of the bitterness of that of her young son Naucratius, taken from her love in a completely unexpected manner; she remained constant and firm in the midst of the desolation of the whole family: this great soul drew all her courage from God. She then put all her desires and all her care into r aising Pierre The youngest brother of Macrina, raised by her as if by a second mother. the last of her brothers, Peter, and into making him worthy of the other two, who were walking with ardor in a perfect path. She became a second mother to him; as tender, though less indulgent than the first, she knew how to keep the slightest dangers away from him, to protect him against the vanities of the world, and to develop in him all the good sentiments of the soul: thus he renounced the world from his youth to embrace the religious state, in which he died a saint.

When the various cares required by the family had been provided for, our pious virgin persuaded her mother to found a monastery, in order to retire there and prepare for a holy death. She followed her there herself, and the community, witnessing the holiness of her life and her skill in spiritual ways, asked her to govern it. She made regulations full of wisdom for this house; she established there the love of poverty, humility, obedience, austerities, prayer, and work. This chosen soul was tested by a very serious illness: a dreadful cancer came to threaten to drag her, by a painful path, to her grave; her holy mother healed her of it by the virtue of the sign of the cross.

After the death of this good mother, Macrina disposed of her goods in favor of the poor, and reduced herself to living, like the other nuns of her monastery, by earning her subsistence through her work. She did not survive her long: struck by a very serious illness, she was soon brought to the gates of death. She had the consolation of seeing, near her deathbed, her brother Gregory, who wrote h Grégoire Church Father cited as a source. er life, and whom she had not seen for eight years. As soon as he arrived, she raised her hands toward heaven and cried out: "I give you thanks, O my God, that you grant me what I wished, to see my brother, your servant, before I die." She spoke with him, that day and the next, of the things of heaven and the interests of her soul, and on the third day, already no longer of the earth, she turned toward the East in his presence, addressed a final and fervent prayer to the Lord; then, having made the sign of the cross on her forehead, on her lips, and on her heart, she began to pray in silence until she had rendered her beautiful soul to her God, around the year 379.

The poverty of the monastery was so great that only a worn-out veil was found to cover Macrina's body when it was carried to the tomb; but Saint Gregory threw his episcopal mantle over it. The servant of God had worn around her neck, while she lived, a kind of band to which were attached a ring and an iron cross. Saint Gregory gave the cross to a nun named Vestiana; but he kept the ring, which was hollow and contained a piece of the True Cross.

The bishop of the place and Saint Gregory attended Macrina's f uneral, wit vraie croix The cross upon which Jesus Christ was crucified, the central object of the feast. h the clergy, the monks, and the religious divided into two choirs, who held candles in their hands and sang psalms. The body of the Saint was carried to the Church of the Forty Martyrs, which was a mile from the monastery, and deposited in the vault where that of Saint église des Quarante-Martyrs Burial place of Macrina and her mother. Emmelia lay. Prayers were offered for the two servants of God.

Saint Macrina died in the month of December of the year 379; but her feast is celebrated on July 19 by the Greeks and the Latins.

Abbé Chapin; Godescard; Baitlet; Acta Sanctorum.