Marseilles (France), and Jerusalem.l3
St. Mena was born of Christian parents, and his
father was governor of the once thriving province that had
Mareotis as its capital. Although he was orphaned at the age
of eleven, his mother took great care to bring him up in the
fear of the Lord, and as a young man, he became noted for
the honesty and integrity of his Christian character. No
sooner had he come of age than the people – by common
consensus – chose him to be governor in his father's place.
When Emperor Diocletian started his persecutions,
Mena renounced his governorate and retired to the desert
where he spent his days in prayer and fasting. One day while
he prayed, he saw a vision in which the heavens opened and
the martyrs were being crowned. Immediately he left his
solitude, went to Alexandria and declared everywhere that he
was a Christian. Hearing this, the Roman ruler – who knew
of his lineage and had a liking for him – called him and tried
first to persuade him to deny his faith, then threatened to kill
him if he did not do so. Neither means availed in making
Mena change his public declaration, so orders were given to
have him beheaded. And thus he won the crown of
martyrdom which his vision had inspired.
Hearing of his death, some of his faithful friends
came and removed his body, and took it to be interred in the
desert of Mareotis, near his former abode.
For some time, very few people knew where the saint
had been buried. Then, one day, a shepherd, who had been
feeding his flock in the area, returned to Alexandria with an
amazing story: one of his sheep, sick with scabies, had
scratched itself against the ground and had risen whole.
Everywhere he went, the shepherd related the story until
some people, hearing it, remembered that this was the spot
where St. Mena had been buried. The word spread, and
people from all over the country started visiting this holy
elle
(Elle)
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