December 15 + Saint Christiana

Christiana, also known as Nino or Nina, is regarded as equal to the Apostles and called the Enlightener of Georgia (the country). She was the only child of a famous family. Her father was Roman general Zabulon and her mother Sosana (Susan). On her father's side, Christiana was related to Saint George, and on her mother’s side, to the patriarch of Jerusalem, Houbnal I.

During her childhood, Christiana was brought up by the nun Niofora-Sarah of Bethlehem. Christiana’s uncle, who was the patriarch of Jerusalem, oversaw her traditional upbringing. Christiana longed to preach the Christian gospel in Iberia, known to her as the resting place of Christ’s tunic.

According to tradition, Christiana received a vision where the Virgin Mary gave her a grapevine cross and said: "Go to Iberia and tell there the Good Tidings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and you will find favour before the Lord; and I will be for you a shield against all visible and invisible enemies. By the strength of this cross, you will erect in that land the saving banner of faith in My beloved Son and Lord."

Christiana entered the Iberian Kingdom in Caucasus, where she escaped persecution at the hands of the Armenian King Tiridates III. She had belonged to a community of virgins, under the leadership of Saint Gayane, who preached Christianity in the Armenian Kingdom. They were all, with the exception of Christiana, tortured and beheaded by Tiridates.

Even when enslaved by haters of the Catholic Faith, Christiana, by her beautiful humility in all her prayers and by her wonderful miracles, converted thousands to the one true Faith.

She cured a dying child by placing her hair shirt on him and praying over him. News of this miracle reached the Queen of Georgia, who was suffering an unspecified and untreatable malady. She sent for Christiana who replied, “I am a slave. My place is not in a palace.” The Queen went to Christiana, who cured her by prayer.

The royal family offered her any reward; she asked that they convert. The recently healed queen was willing, but King Mirian was not. However, soon after, while on a hunt, he found himself surrounded by wild animals. He made one of those well-known deals with God, offering to convert if he survived. The animals left, the king converted and asked the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great for priests and bishops to spread the faith throughout Georgia.

After helping to found the Church in Georgia, Christiana retired to live as a prayerful recluse on a mountainside at Bodbe Monastery, Kakheti, Georgia and died in the year 332.