Note 1088 — PART IV. From the Reformation to the present time. (continued 7)

This female and virgin saint is said to have been born at Antioch in the 3rd century. Some say her father was a heathen priest, while others say that it was Theodosius patriarch of Antioch. All agree that she was a christian; and some assert that she was very beautiful, which excited in Olybius, preside of the east, under the Romans, a desire to marry her; but finding she was a christian, deferred it till he could persuade her to renounce her religion. Not being able to accomplish that object, he first put her to extreme tortures, and then beheaded her. She has the same office among the papists, as Lucina has among the heathens, viz. to assist women in labour: So she seems to be the patroness, or tutelar saint of the midwives. Her holiday, (20th July) is very ancient, not only in the Roman, but also in the Greek-church, who celebrate her memory under the name of Marina. She suffered in the year 278. [See Wheatly on the common Prayer, p. 69—also Mackerell’s History of Lynn, p. 4.]—Her victory over the Dragon by means of the cross has probably only a figurative meaning.