Happy Saint Euplius Day!

Or at least I hope it is happy for you since the Romans chopped off his head on April 29, 304. Evidently good old Euplius lived in Catania, Sicily and the story goes wherever he went he had the gospel tucked under his arms and he would pontificate to the pagans about the benefits of Christianity. 

One day as he preached, a big crowd formed and this got the attention of the Roman officials.  He was arrested and brought to the local governor for interrogation.  The governor asked Euplius to read a passage of the book and so he obliged.  As Euplius finished the story, the governor said, “So let me get this straight, before the story gets off the ground the hero gets trashed without actually making any enemies, then his homies don’t try to get revenge, but instead they travel around and bore people with the story of a guy that didn’t  bust anyheads?”  You may also be surprised that the Roman governor was such a gangster.  The governor continued, “Forget about it! With such a boring story you shouldn’t have any beef if we destroy this little book eh?’

Euplius replied, “Yo boss man, do what you want, I have the book memorized.” Evidently Euplius was also a wise guy. 

So the Roman governor gave Euplius an attitude adjustment which meant some big time torture then threw him jail.  Euplius was all gimped up from the beatings, but he forced himself to do some heavy duty praying.  Let me be clear, the prayer was so powerful that a spring of water erupted in the prison cell. 

Now you can say Euplius caused this to happen through the power of his mind, the Lord provided water for Euplius to drink as he was thirsty and injured or the Romans just had crappy plumbing, but whatever you call it looks kind of miraculous from where I am sitting.  Of course the Romans were not impressed that this little Sicilian dude had flooded their prison so they put him on trial again. 

At this second trial, Euplius was still full of Sicilian swagger and again pronounced his faith in Christianity.  The governor was still not willing to give Euplius any love and ordered that his ears be torn off and then he was to be beheaded.  Ok, first reaction a big ouch to the ears being torn off, but the beheading seems like overdoing it. 

The Martyr Euplius became Saint Number 1183 and today is his day!

Powered by Bookmarkify™