ICONOGRAPHIE CHRÉTIENNE: Sainte MARINA - MARINO de BYTHINIE, la Déguisée, vierge moniale

Richard de Montbaston. Sainte Marine présentée au monastère. Jacobus de Voragine, Legenda aurea (traduction de Jean de Vignay). Cote : Français 241 , Fol. 139v.)

Maryna (w czerwonym) prowadzona do klasztoru przez ojca

Sainte Marine de Bythinie

entrée au monastère déguisée en garçon (+ 750)

C'est une belle histoire que celle de Marine de Bythinie, surnommée la Déguisée, qu'on nomme aussi saint Marin. Son père l'aimait, mais il aimait plus encore Dieu. Il se fit religieux. Bientôt, il souffrit de l'absence de sa fille qui n'avait alors que dix-sept ans. Il obtint du Père Abbé de faire venir son "garçon" au monastère. Il alla chercher sa fille, lui coupa les cheveux, l'habilla en garçon et l'appela Marin. Les années passèrent et le père mourut. "Marin" fut, un jour, accusé d'avoir séduit la fille d'un hôtelier voisin qui attendait un enfant, né en réalité d'une nuit avec un soldat. "Marin" recueillit l'enfant mais dut vivre hors du monastère. Cinq ans plus tard, "il" fut réintégré, à la demande des frères touchés de compassion devant la patience de "frère Marin" exposé au mépris des passants et devant son esprit de prière et de pénitence. Le Père abbé lui imposa de balayer seul le monastère et de les servir. "Marin" accepta cette austérité et s'en acquitta avec courage. C'était au-dessus de ses forces et "il" succomba après quelques jours de maladie. C'est au moment de l'ensevelissement qu'on découvrit la sainteté de la "sœur" qui avait vécu ainsi comme frère dans le monastère. Une belle histoire qui se transmit quand ses reliques furent transportées de Constantinople à Venise puis de Venise à Paris, où on éleva une église en son honneur.

Marine née en Bithynie au VIIIe siècle. Son père, veuf, entra au monastère, fit l'admiration de ses frères par sa sainte vie et introduisit sa fille, déguisée en garçon, sous le nom de Marin.

Ce fut un moine parfait, quand une calomnie l'accusa d'avoir séduit une jeune fille. Elle ne voulut pas se justifier en dévoilant son sexe, subit avec patience une dure pénitence. La vérité ne fut connue qu'à la toilette mortuaire en 750. La coupable fut guérie par un miracle de "Marin" après sa mort.

Les reliques furent transférées de Constantinople à Venise le 17 juillet. Une paroisse de Paris l'eut jadis comme patronne.

SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/7320/Sainte-Marine.html

Legendari di sancti istoriado uulgar. Legenda aurea, 1497 – Marina di Bitinia, Biblioteca europea di informazione e cultura (« Bibliothèque européenne d'information et de culture ») (BEIC), Milan.

SAINTE MARINE, VIERGE OU PLUTÔT SAINTE MARIE, VIERGE *

Marie était fille unique. Son père, étant entré dans un monastère, changea sa fille d'habits afin qu'elle passât pour un homme et qu'on ne s'aperçût pas qu'elle fût une femme, ensuite il pria l’abbé et les frères de vouloir bien recevoir son fils unique. On se rendit à ses prières. Il fut reçu moine et appelé par tous frère Marin. Elle pratiqua la vie religieuse avec beaucoup de piété, et son obéissance était fort grande. Comme son père se sentait près de mourir, il appela sa fille (elle avait vingt-sept ans), et après l’avoir affermie dans sa résolution, il lui défendit de révéler jamais son sexe à personne. Marin allait donc souvent avec le chariot et les boeufs pour amener du bois au monastère. Il avait coutume de loger chez un homme dont la fille était enceinte du fait d'un soldat. Aux interrogations qu'on lui adressa, celle-ci répondit que c'était le moine Marin qui lui avait fait violence. Marin, interrogé comment il avait commis un si grand crime, avoua qu'il était coupable et demanda grâce. On le chassa aussitôt du monastère, où il resta trois ans à la porte en se sustentant d'une bouchée de pain. Peu de temps après, l’enfant sevré fut amené à l’abbé. On le donna à élever à Marin, et il resta deux ans avec lui dans le même lieu. Marin acceptait ces épreuves avec la plus grande patience et en toutes choses il rendait grâces à. Dieu. Enfin les frères, pleins de compassion pour son humilité et sa patience, le reçoivent dans le monastère, et le chargent des fonctions les plus viles mais il s'acquittait de tout avec joie, et chaque chose était faite par lui avec patience et dévouement. Enfin après avoir passé sa vie dans les bonnes oeuvres, il trépassa dans le Seigneur. Comme on lavait son corps et qu'on se disposait à l’ensevelir dans un endroit peu honorable, on remarqua que c'était réellement une femme. Tous furent stupéfaits et effrayés, et on avoua avoir manqué étrangement à l’égard de la servante de Dieu. Tout le monde accourt à un spectacle si extraordinaire, et on demande pardon de l’ignorance et du péché qu'on a commis. Son corps fut donc déposé dans l’église avec honneur. Quant à celle qui avait déshonoré la servante de Dieu, elle est saisie par le démon : alors elle confesse son crime et elle est délivrée au tombeau de la vierge. On vient de toutes parts à cette tombe et il s'y opère un grand nombre de miracles. Elle mourut le 14 des calendes de juillet (18 juin).

* L'édition princeps met, et avec raison, sainte Marie, parce que c'était le nom qu'elle portait avant d'entrer dans le monastère où son père la fit recevoir sous le nom de Marin. Cf. Vies des pères du désert, traduites par Arnaud d'Andilly.

La Légende dorée de Jacques de Voragine nouvellement traduite en français avec introduction, notices, notes et recherches sur les sources par l'abbé J.-B. M. Roze, chanoine honoraire de la Cathédrale d'Amiens, Édouard Rouveyre, éditeur, 76, rue de Seine, 76, Paris mdcccci

SOURCE : http://www.abbaye-saint-benoit.ch/voragine/tome02/085.htm

Saint Marina the Monk and Saint Mary of Egypt on Saint John the Merciful Polyptych

Maryna (po lewej) i Maria Egipcjanka na krakowskim poliptyku św. Jana Jałmużnika

St. Marine de Bithynie, XV siècle

Pour les cheveux longs, les ciseaux pouvaient faire l’affaire. Un habit ample et la pénombre caverneuse où ils se seraient retirés auraient fait le reste. En fait , Eugène transforme sa fille, 14 ans, en novice imberbe, ainsi ensemble ils se mettent en voyage pour le couvent de Kanoubine, en Syrie, endroit de prière retiré dans les grottes creusées dans le rocher. C’est le début de l’histoire extraordinaire de Marine, la sainte originaire de la Bithyniele saint originaire de Bithynie en Asie Mineure, aujourd'hui Turquie, qui a vécu, selon les historiens, probablement dans la première moitié du 8°s, (certains situent cette période entre le IV-V s.). En réalité l’histoire de la petite Marine a commencé avec le veuvage précoce de son père, qui, à cause de la douleur de la disparition de son épouse, se retire au couvent condamnant aussi sa fille à une tristesse inconsolable. Le détachement ne tient cependant pas debout face à la force de l’affection. Eugène raconte sa douleur à l’Abbé, et lui demande de pouvoir vivre au monastère avec son «fils » et son supérieur, ému , y consent.

Frère Marin

Déguisée en habits de frère, instruite, par le père, tout au long du voyage, sur les habitudes et les rythmes de la vie religieuse, Marina fait son entrée au monastère. Pour dire mieux , il y entre comme «frère Marin», jeune garçon glabre , et au vu de ses traits féminins, un des frères, dit-on, le prend pour un eunuque. Mais c’est avec beaucoup de perfection que «Marin» vit sa nouvelle vie, et l’environnement solitaire lui est favorable et lui permet de maintenir la discrétion nécessaire; le stratagème passe donc inaperçu. Le manque de croissance de la barbe est expliqué par l’intense activité ascétique et, de toutes façons, peu importe. Ce jeune est la fierté du monastère et son père est de nouveau un homme heureux. Une joie qui ne dure que trois ans, au bout desquels Eugène meurt.

Infamie et rédemption

Un jour Frère Marin est envoyé dehors avec d’autres confrères pour traiter des affaires. Les moines passent la nuit chez un hôtelier; la même nuit, la fille de l’hôtelier est violée par un soldat de passage. Quand la jeune fille se rend compte qu’elle est enceinte, elle accuse les frères et en particulier Marin. Qu’est ce qui pourrait facilement l’en disculper? Mais pensant au Christ Marin choisit d’endosser la responsabilité de la faute à laquelle il est étranger. Ainsi le moine modèle finit dans la boue de l’infamie. Comme punition, il est expulsé du monastère, et obligé de prendre soin du nouveau-né. Marin passe trois ans de grandes difficultés voire de misère, mais il ne s’éloigne pas du monastère. Il vit à peine des aumônes mais s’occupe du bébé avec toute l’affection dont il est capable. Ses anciens confrères en sont émus et demandent à l’Abbé sa réadmission, qui lui est accordée à condition que frère Marin s’occupe des tâches et des corvées les plus serviles dans le monastère. Le jeune l’accepte sans bronche, et reprend son habit religieux avec plus de zèle qu’avant, tout en continuant à élever son fils adoptif.

Miraculée

L’épuisement physique qu’il a supporté et supporte a son prix. Un jour on le trouve mort dans sa cellule. Marin n’a que 25 ans et une histoire qui remplit deux vies. Le dernier coup de théâtre arrive lorsque les frère, en procédant aux soins de la dépouille de frère Marin, en découvrent la vraie identité et se rendent compte avec grande douleur de l’infamie supportée dans le silence par ce moine si humble, voire par la jeune fille. On raconte que la jeune fille qui l’avait calomnié, possédée par le démo, accourue au pied du lit du mort en implorant le pardon de frère Marin est guérie à l’instant. On parlait déjà des prodiges opérés de son vivant, mais depuis sa mort les signes extraordinaires attribués à Marine de Bithynie se multiplient. Depuis 1200 sa dépouille est conservée et vénérée à Venise dont elle est la co-patrone.

SOURCE : https://www.vaticannews.va/fr/saint-du-jour/06/18/st--marine-de-bithynie.html

Sainte Marine accusée (France, Paris. Bibliothèque nationale de France, Département des manuscrits, Français 51, f.201v) - Marine (saint)

Sainte Marine

Sancta Marina virgine

Fête: 18 juin; 17 juillet; 4 décembre

BHL 5528-5530

Versions de sa vie

Bibliographie

Versions de sa vie

en latin:

Iacopo da Varazze, Legenda aurea, ch. 79 (prose)

en français:

Jean de Vignay, La legende des sains, ch. 79 (prose)

Jean Batallier, La legende doree, ch. 79 (prose)

Versions des traductions anonymes françaises de la Legenda aurea

Versions anonymes françaises

Bibliographie

Répertoires bibliographiques

Bibliotheca hagiographica latina antiquae et mediae aetatis ediderunt socii Bollandiani, Bruxelles, s. n., 1898-1901, 3 t., xxxv + 1387 p. (ici t. 2, p. 813, nos 5528-5530) [Gallica: t. 1, t. 2, t. 3] [GB: t. 1, t. 2, t. 3] [IA: t. 1, t. 2, t. 3]

Études

Clugnet, Léon, « Vie de sainte Marine (suite). VII. Texte français », Revue de l'Orient chrétien, 7, 1902, p. 647-667. [GB] [HT] [IA: ex. 1, ex. 2]

Clugnet, Léon, « Vie de sainte Marine (suite). VII. Texte français (suite) », Revue de l'Orient chrétien, 8, 1903, p. 288-311. [GB] [HT] [IA: ex. 1, ex. 2]

Dictionnaires: DEAF SMarinehC

Clugnet, Léon, « Vie de sainte Marine (suite) », Revue de l'Orient chrétien, 9, 1904, p. 560-608. [GB] [HT] [IA: ex. 1, ex. 2]

Dictionnaires: DEAF SMarinehC

Esteves Pereira, F. M., « Vie de sainte Marine (suite). VIII. Texte éthiopien », Revue de l'Orient chrétien, 8, 1903, p. 614-622. [GB] [HT] [IA: ex. 1, ex. 2]

Dictionnaires: DEAF SMarinehC

Permalien: https://arlima.net/no/1643

Voir aussi:
> Wikidata: Q543320

Cette page est mise à disposition en vertu d'un contrat Creative Commons.

Rédaction: Laurent Brun

Dernière mise à jour: 12 août 2014

SOURCE : https://www.arlima.net/mp/marine_sainte.html

Simulacro in cartapesta di Santa Marina Vergine di Bitinia venerato a Santa Marina di Milazzo.

Saint Marina of Bithynia

Memorial

18 June

17 July (translation of relics in Venice, Italy)

Profile

Hermitess in 8th century Bithynia (in modern Turkey), wearing a monk‘s habit. The desert fathers of the time knew her, wrote of her, and considered her a holy woman.

Died

c.750 of natural causes

relics translated to the church of San Marina in Venice, Italy in 1230

some relics translated to the church of San Marina in Paris, France

Additional Information

Lives of the Saints, by Father Alban Butler

Saints of the Day, by Katherine Rabenstein

books

Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints

other sites in english

Catholic Online

video

YouTube PlayList

fonti in italiano

Santi e Beati

Wikipedia: Santi patroni della città di Venezia

MLA Citation

“Saint Marina of Bithynia“. CatholicSaints.Info. 30 September 2022. Web. 3 September 2026. <https://catholicsaints.info/saint-marina-of-bithynia/>

SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-marina-of-bithynia/

Altar of Saint Marina in Santa Maria Formosa, at Venice, with altarpiece (Marina teaching the child Fortunatus) and the saint's corpse.

St. Marina

Feastday: June 18

St. Marina Virgin June 18 - She flourished in Bithynia in the eighth century, and served God under the habit of a monk, with extraordinary fervor. Her wonderful humility, meekness, and patience are celebrated in the lives of the fathers of the desert. She died about the middle of the eighth century. Her relics were translated from Constantinople to Venice in 1230, and are venerated there in a church which bears her name. She is also titular saint of a parish church in Paris, which is mentioned by the celebrated William of Paris, in 1228. In it is preserved a portion of her relics, brought from Venice. St. Marina is commemorated in the Roman Martyrology and in the New Paris Breviary on the 18th of June; and the feast of the translation of her relics is kept at Venice on the 17th of July.

SOURCE : https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=732

Lorenzo Bregno, Santa Marina, XVI secolo, dalla chiesa di S. Marina, Venezia

Saints of the Day – Marina

Article

(also known as Pelagia)

Date unknown. Marina is said to be the daughter of Eugenius, a Bithynian who became a monk. She was brought into the monastery as a boy by her father so that he could keep her with him. She dressed as a boy and lived the life of a monk until her father died when she was 17. Marina was accused of impregnating the daughter of the local innkeeper but concealed her identity and was dismissed from the monastery.

She became a beggar at the gates of the monastery and still maintained her silence about her sex when the innkeeper’s daughter made her take custody of the child. Marina was readmitted to the monastery with her ‘son’ five years later. She was assigned the lowliest tasks and made to perform the most severe penances.

Her sex was finally revealed at her death, when of course all concerned in the affair were filled with remorse. The whole story is typical of the pious fictions telling of women saints masquerading as men (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney).

In art, Saint Marina is generally pictured with a child in a cradle by her as she kneels in prayer. Sometimes she may be shown (1) in a monk’s habit carrying the child, (2) nursing the child in a hermitage, (3) drawing a woodcart to the monastery, or (4) kneeling by an open tomb with a dove descending (Roeder). Venerated in Galicia (Roeder).

MLA Citation

Katherine I Rabenstein. Saints of the Day, 1998. CatholicSaints.Info. 18 May 2020. Web. 3 September 2026. <https://catholicsaints.info/saints-of-the-day-marina/>

SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saints-of-the-day-marina/

Corpo di Santa Marina Vergine, nella chiesa di Santa Maria Formosa a Venezia.

June 18

St. Marina, Virgin

SHE flourished in Bithynia in the eighth century, and served God under the habit of a monk, with extraordinary fervour. Her wonderful humility, meekness, and patience are celebrated in the lives of the fathers of the desert. She died about the middle of the eighth century. Her relics were translated from Constantinople to Venice in 1230, and are venerated there in a church which bears her name. She is also titular saint of a parish church in Paris, which is mentioned by the celebrated William of Paris, in 1228. In it is preserved a portion of her relics brought from Venice. St. Marina is commemorated in the Roman Martyrology and in the New Paris Breviary on the 18th of June; and the feast of the translation of her relics is kept at Venice on the 17th of July. On her, see the Bollandists on the 17th of July, t. 4, Junij.Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73). Volume VI: June. The Lives of the Saints. 1866.

SOURCE : https://www.bartleby.com/lit-hub/lives-of-the-saints/volume-vi-june/st-marina-virgin

Chiesa di Santa Marina, Altare di Santa Marina

Saint Marina the Monk

Part I

By Guita G. Hourani

Chairwoman of MARI

This is Part I of a three-part article on Saint Marina the Monk. Part I narrates her hagiography in the Maronite tradition, gives an overview of the most important references pertaining to her story, relates legends about her relics and describes her Office and Ode. Part II deals with her churches, sanctuaries, cults, and iconography in Lebanon and Cyprus. Part III uncovers the author’s newly discovered Ode in honor of the Saint written in Arabic with Syriac scripts (Garshuni).

I. INTRODUCTION

There are six well known saints with the name of Marina or Marinos – Marina the Monk (or Marina the Syrian), Marina the Martyr of Antioch, Marina of Spain, Marina of Alexandria, Marina of Sicily and Marina the Cistercian (Clugnet 1904: 564- 568). However, there are most likely two who have truly existed -- Marina of Antioch who accepted martyrdom for her faith and Marina the Monk who suffered the consequences of her imposture as a male monk in the Monastery of Qannoubine, Lebanon (Clugnet 1904: 568).

Léon Clugnet states that the confusion pertaining to all of the other saints named Marina is due to the translators and the copyists’ attribution of the saint’s origins to their own countries or other countries that they felt better fit the Saint’s life. This is why we find that the Greek version of Saint Marina’s life places her birth in Bethany; the Coptic version in Egypt and some of the Latin places it in Italy (Clugnet 1904: 265 footnote # 2).

According to the most ancient accounts on Saint Marina the Monk, only one place of origin could be hers -- Lebanon. Clugnet resolves that until new discoveries are made, the only origin of Saint Marina must be the one known to us according to tradition and since the only tradition about this Saint is found among the Maronites of Lebanon, then Lebanon is to be considered the land of her birth (Clugnet 1904: 565). The Maronites resolutely believe that Marina originated in Lebanon and that as a monk she has lived and died in the Monastery of Qannoubine in the Holy Valley of Qadisha. J. Fiey in turn concludes that Marina in question is truly a local saint of Lebanon, victim of imposture (Fiey 1978: 33).

Marina was disguised as a man in order to join her father in the monastery. She was later accused of fathering a child. She did not defend herself from the crime she was accused of, but with humility accepted the severe punishment that was pronounced against her by the Abbot: to leave the monastery and to raise the child. She spent the rest of her life living ascetically and looking after the child. Her identity as a woman was only revealed after her death.

Monastic life in the fifth century was much more a cenobitic life, which is a communal ascetic life, than anchoretic, which is a solitary ascetic one. The Cenobetic monasteries had small but separate cells where the monks lived, this made it possible for Marina to conceal her identity. With her male name, short hair and clothes, but mostly with her ascetic living, which changed her body’s biology, hence made her lose much of her womanhood appearance and physical nature, Marina was able to go on living at the monastery with a disguising identity until her death.

As to the century in which this Saint has lived, Clugnet agrees with F. Nau that it must be the fifth century since there were great details in her legend presented in the Syriac Manuscript Nº 30 dated 778 AD, folios 70r-76v of the Monastery of Saint Catherine in Sinai (Clugnet 1904: 565, 593).

II. BIOGRAPHICAL RESOURCES

The account of Saint Marina or Marinos is found in the hagiographies of the Syriac, Maronite, Coptic, Ethiopian, Greek and Latin Churches. Many biographies on this Saint were written in Syriac, Coptic, Arabic, Greek, Latin, Ethiopian, Armenian, German, French, and Spanish languages. From the considerable amount of manuscripts and writings, we can presume the veneration and honor that this Saint had once enjoyed in both the Eastern and Western world during the medieval era.

Many of the Latin, Syriac, and Arabic manuscripts are to be found, among others, in the Bibliothèque Nationale in France; Bruxelles Bibliothèque Royale in Belgium; British Museum Library in London; Bibliothèque Ambrosienne in Milan; Saint Catherine Monastery in Sinaï; the Vatican Library in Rome; The Maronite Patriarchal Archive in Bkerke, Lebanon; the Bibliothèque des Missionnaires Maronites known as the Kraym, Jounieh, Lebanon; and the Bibliothéque Orientale De Beyrouth, Lebanon.

Clugnet in his article Vie de Sainte Marine in the Revue de l’Orient Chrétien gives an extensive bibliography of the manuscripts pertaining to Marina and their whereabouts (Clugnet 1904: 588-594).

The account of Marina’s life was known before the eleventh century. It was confirmed by writer Aba Al-Rayhan al-Bayrouni (+ 1049) in the eleventh century when speaking about the Syriac months in his book Al-Athar al Baqiyat ‘an al Qouroun al Khaliat (The Remained Remnants from the Passed Centuries): "On the third of October is the feast of the Monk Maria, who wore the cloth of man and became monk, who hid her femininity from the monks, then was accused of adultery with a woman. She did not reveal her femininity until her death which made known her situation and her innocence from adultery when they wanted to wash her [for burial]" (Al-Bustani 1983: 39-40).

Marina’s legend has been an inspiration to several writers among whom we find Jacques de Voragine in his Légende Dorée; Charles Corm in Sainte Marina la Libanaise; Father Moubarak Thabet in Marinos: the Monk of the Monastery of Qannoubine (in Arabic); Father Michael Mouawad in The White Sin (in Arabic) and Patriarch Youssef Al-‘Akoury in his Ode for Saint Marina (in Arabic) written in 1641 and published by L. Clugnet in the Revue de l’Orient Chrétien in 1904.

III. THE HAGIOGRAPHY OF MARINA THE MONK

According the Maronite current Synaxarium, "Marina was born in Qlamoun North Lebanon. Her father was a pious man. Her mother died while Marina was very young. This has made her father renounce the world and leave for the Monastery of Qannoubine in the Holy Valley; accompanying him was his daughter, whom he dressed like a man. Both father and daughter entered into monkshood without revealing the identity of the daughter to the monks. As a monk she was known by the name Marinos.

Although young, Marinos occupied himself with the practice of monastic virtues with utmost spirit and minuteness. He was silent and reticent with bowed head and eyes, making of his cowl a veil concealing the features of his face and eyes.

One day he was sent to a neighboring town on a mission for the Monastery. He was obliged to spend the night at the house of a friend of the monks named Paphnotius.

Paphnotius had a young girl who had fallen into adultery and was found pregnant. Upon finding out, her father was enraged and demanded the name of the perpetrator. His daughter told him that Marinos the Monk had raped her the night he spent in their house. Her father went straight to the Monastery and told the Superior, who was surprised for he knew that Marinos is a pious and pure man. The Superior called Marinos and scolded him, but Marinos said nothing to defend himself. Consequently, the Superior was very perplexed and considered Marinos’ silence to be an admission of guilt. He then sentenced Marinos to dismissal and to be thrown outside the Monastery. Marinos resigned himself to the will of God and stayed at the door of the Monastery praying and crying, living of the leftovers of the monks’ food. His father had long since died.

When the daughter delivered, the grandfather brought the child, a boy, to the Monastery and threu him to Marinos saying: take and raise your son.

Marinos took the boy and began raising him with what the monks used to bring to him of goat milk and of leftovers from their table. This situation lasted four years. Marinos carried the shame of this hideous accusation without any complaints. However, the Superior had compassion for him and let him enter the Monastery under very strict conditions. Marinos accepted while shedding the tears of repentance.

Marinos persevered in his ascetic work until the hour of his death when the features of his face glowed with a heavenly light. He asked forgiveness from all and he forgave all those who sinned against him. He then gave up his spirit. The Superior then ordered that his body be prepared for burial outside the Monastery.

It was a great moment of astonishment when the monks found that Marinos was a woman and not a man. The Superior and the monks fell on their knees before the pure cadaver, asking God and the soul of the holy saint forgiveness. As for the father of the sinful daughter, he was ashamed and came to make his statement before everyone. As for the daughter, she spent her life crying and repenting at the tomb of the saint.

The sanctity of Marina spread all over Lebanon, people from all its regions came to the Monastery of Qannoubine to be blessed by her body. Her tomb became a source of cures and graces." (Daher 1996: 189-190)

IV. DIVERSE VERSIONS OF HER BIOGRAPHY

There are some additions or diversions of this rendition of Marina’s life. It is said that her parents names were Ibrahim and Baddoura at times, and Eugene and Theodora at others. It is also said that her father left her in the care of her caretaker and after a few years he returned to fetch her, at which time she insisted on going wherever he went. Furthermore, it is recounted that the superior, when punishing Marina for her deed, took her belt, which is to signify that she is no longer chaste, and no longer a member of the community. It is believed that upon receiving the child to raise, she cut a piece from her habit to swaddle him and that upon her retreat into the grotto to raise the child, she miraculously was able to nurse the infant from her own breasts. Another version states that she used to feed the child milk, donated by the shepherds who used the pastures in the vicinity of her grotto. Legend tells that when she died, the bells of the monastery rang on their own.

An additional anecdote states that Marina lived at the door of the monastery crying, praying and begging to return to the monastery. Other renditions have the monks plead her case; and when the superior did not agree, they threatened to leave the monastery themselves. However, the story goes that the superior agreed but placed severe rules on Marina: fasting, adoration and vigil. When the superior was informed of her death, he ordered the monks to go to her cell, wash her, enshroud her, pray and bury her. It is when the monks began unclothing the body at the lavatory, that they uncovered her identity. Further additions state that, on her deathbed, Marina wrote a note to her brethren saying, "I am a woman and not a man. I embraced the monastic life with my father. I was falsely accused. I have raised this child with my care. I beg of you not to remove my habit my brothers" (Moubarak 1984: 4-5).

When her identity was discovered, the superior knelt before Marina’s body, sobbed, and asked Marina to forgive him and to intercede in his favor before God. The monks prayed over Marina in the church while crying and lamenting. Suddenly, they heard a voice from heaven that told the superior "lift up your head from the ground; what you have done was not of your order or your will, but rather you have accomplished what the law commanded. Your sin is pardoned: don’t be sad anymore. As for how long she lived after the accusation, there are mainly two versions: one states that it was only 4 years and another states that it was 20some years. Tradition has it that Tourza, a village in north Lebanon about 29 km from Besharre, was the place of the sin that was laid on Marina. It is believed that because of the slanderer’s action, this village remained forever poor and was several times destroyed by earthquakes (Quaresimus: 1639: 800). The people of Tourza narrate that because of what happened to Marina, God have punished their village that was built on a mountain, by having it slip to the bottom of the hill where it is located today (Fiey 1978: 34).

V. MARINA’S RELICS

It is believed that relics of Saint Marina the Monk, except for her left hand which was kept at the Monastery of Qannoubine, were transferred to Constantinople and from there to Venice, Italy. The relics are said to have been placed in Saint Liberal and Saint Alexis parish church. However, soon after the arrival of the relics, the church became known at the Church of Santa Marina. It is located near a river or water canal named Rio di Santa Marina. In 1818, when the church was demolished the relics were transferred to Santa Maria Formosa Church. The people of Venice venerate Saint Marina on July 17, same as the Maronite Church. The Churches in Greece, Belgium and St. Catherine of Sinaï claim each to have a left hand of the Saint. (Clugnet 1904: 575).

In Paris, France, a small church dedicated to Saint Marina was located near Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral. This church may have been built between the tenth and the eleventh century.

According to an inventory taken in 1627, it had a hand relic of the Saint. However, the Arch-Priest of Notre-Dame stated in 1902, that one of two clavicles of Saint Marina preserved in a simple glass tube with the seal of Monsignor Darboy, which was saved from its Church before it was sold in 1792, is among the treasures of the Cathedral. He goes on to say that he remembers that the nuns of Hôtel-Dieu have in their chapel another relic of the Saint that also escaped pillage. (Clugnet 1904: 580-584)

In Lebanon today, there is no indication where Saint Marina’s relics are. Saint Marina, as we have seen, was venerated in many places and now is only revered in three – Lebanon, Cyprus, and Italy.

VI. THE OFFICE OF SAINT MARINA AND THE ODE OF YOUSSEF AL-‘AKOURY

A Maronite Office of Saint Marina in Syriac was first edited by Father Louis Cheikho. According to Mouawad, Cheikho did not provide information on the date nor the provenance of the Office. Mouawad states that, based on the colophon, the manuscript was copied by Father Boutros Makhlouf of Ghosta in c. 1720. The original author is unknown but that some attribute it to Patriarch Youssef Estphan (1766-1793) and others to Patriarch Estephan Douwayhi (1670-1704). (Mouawad 1998: 297)

L. Clugnet published the manuscript in his book Vie et Office de Sainte Marine in 1905. The Office includes a version of Marina’s passion as well as other interesting details. (Mouawad 1998: 297)

Patriarch Youssef Al-‘Akoury (1644-1648) composed an ode for the Saint in 1641 when he was still a Bishop. He wrote his ode in the colloquial Arabic of Lebanon. The ode is of 139 strophes, two verses. The Bishop identifies himself and dates the ode in the last twelve strophes (Clugnet 1904: 595-608). Clugnet published the manuscript in 1904.

The following are extracts from the Maronite Office of Marina:

Before the Epistle

Marina is greatly saddened
To see her brothers and the superior of the convent
Tormented and suffering painfully because of her.
The virgin prayed for them
And for her calumniators.
Through her perfect patience
She has saved her soul with theirs.

After the Gospel

You have surpassed women with your combats
O excellent one in your patience and in your love,
Humiliated is he who have calumniated you
And increasingly esteemed is your dignity.

Before the Kiss of Peace

They have judged you tyrannically,
Without witnesses and interrogation
Outside the Monastery you lived in patience,
Burdened by suffering for five years.

Before the small Elevation

O Mount Lebanon, your glory has been exalted;
O Monastery of Qannoubine, your joy has increased
Because Marina, the pride of your monks
In this monastery has increased your fame.
(Nau 1901: 289-290)

VII. CONCLUSION

This account on the life, legend, and relics of Saint Marina the Monk tells us but little about her passion, suffering, and humiliation. The Maronites remain to this day fascinated by this Saint. Among them, there is almost a righteous anger against the injustice that was done to her. To this day, her name is intertwined with that of the Monastery of Qannoubine and her nearby grotto is a reminder of her chastity, obedience, asceticism, humility, forgiveness, and sainthood.

Bibliography

Al-Bustani, F. E. Marina al Lubnaniat Rahibat Qannoubine (The Lebanese Marina: Monk of Qannoubine) in Arabic, Beirut, 1983.

Al-Bustani, K. Thalath Kiddissat min al Shark (Three Women Saints from the Orient), Al-Matba’a Al-Katholikiyat: Beirut, 1959.

Bardswell, M. A Visit to Some of the Maronite Villages of Cyprus, Eastern Churches Quarterly, Vol. III, N° 5, 1939, pp. 304-308.

Clugnet, L. Vie de Sainte Marine (Suite) (1), Revue de L’Orient Chrétien, Vol. 9 (1904), pp. 560-594)

Daher, B. Al-Sinksar bi Hasab Taks al-Kanisah al-Intakiah al-Marouniyah (The Synaxarium According to the Maronite Church) in Arabic, Lebanon, 1974.

Fiey, J. De Quelques Saints Vénérés au Liban, Proche Orient Chrétien, Tome XXVIII, 1987, pp. 18-43.

Guidi, I. and E. Blochet. Vie de Sainte Marine (Suite) (1), Arabic Text, Revue de L’Orient Chrétien, Vol. 7 (1902), pp. 245-276.

Lewis, A. S. Select Narratives of Holy Women from the Syro-Antiochene or Sinai Palimpsest, Studia Sinaitica, No X, London 1900, pp. 36-45.

Mathon, G. Marine, Sainte. Catholicisme, T. 8, Letzouey et Ané, Paris, 1979, pp. 682-683.

Moubarac, Y. Pentalogie Antiochienne, Domaine Maronite, Tome II, Volume 1, Beyrouth, Liban, 1984.

Mouawad, R. Sainte Marina: Une Moniale dans la Vallée de la Qadisha, Actes du Colloque-Patrimoine Syriaque VI, Antelias, Lebanon, 1998, pp.271-285.

Nau, F. Histoire de la Sainte Marine, Syriac Text, Revue de L’Orient Chrétien, Vol. 6 (1901), pp. 283-290.

Sader, Y. Painted churches and Rock-Cut Chapels of Lebanon, Dar Sader: Beirut, 1997.

Sauma, V. Sur les pas des Saints au Liban, FMA, Beyrouth, 1994.

Sfeir, P. Les Ermites dans l’Église Maronite: Histoire et Spiritualité, Bibliothèque de l’Université Saint-Esprit, Lebanon, 1986.

Tabet, M. Riwayat Marinos Raheb Deir Qannoubine (The Novel of Marinos the Monk of the Monastery of Qannoubine), Al-Mashreq, Beirut, 1956, pp. 79-128.

SOURCE : https://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.maronite-institute.org%2FMARI%2FJMS%2Fjanuary00%2FSaint_Marina_the_Monk.htm

Santa Marina di Bitinia (la statua è stata scolpita dallo scultore Vincenzo Zaffiro nel 1800)

Santa Marina - Marino Monaca

Festa: 18 giugno

È una delle storie più singolari della Chiesa antica. Marina di Bitinia divenne Santa intorno all’VIII secolo dopo una breve e intensa vita passata in convento sotto mentite spoglie accanto al padre. Falsamente accusata, fu capace di riconquistare con tenacia di fede e carità la dignità perduta.

Per i capelli lunghi la forbice poteva bastare. Il saio abbondante e la penombra cavernosa in cui si sarebbero ritirati avrebbero fatto il resto. Detto fatto, Eugenio trasforma sua figlia, 14 anni, in un imberbe novizio, quindi insieme si mettono in viaggio verso il cenobio di Kanoubine, in Siria, luogo nascosto di preghiera fra grotte scavate nella roccia. È l’inizio della straordinaria vicenda di Marina, la Santa originaria della Bitinia in Asia Minore, oggi Turchia, vissuta secondo gli storici probabilmente nella prima metà dell’anno 700 (alcuni la collocano tra il IV-V sec.). In realtà la storia della piccola Marina è cominciata con la vedovanza precoce del padre, che per il dolore si ritira in convento condannando a una tristezza inconsolabile anche la figlia. Il distacco non regge però alla forza dell’affetto. Eugenio racconta del suo dolore all’abate, gli chiede di poter vivere nel monastero con suo “figlio” e il suo superiore, commosso, dà l’assenso.

Fra’ Marino

Tempo dopo, camuffata sotto le vesti di un frate, addestrata dal padre lungo il viaggio sulle usanze e i ritmi della vita religiosa, Marina fa il suo ingresso nel cenobio. Per meglio dire, vi fa ingresso “fra’ Marino”, ragazzetto glabro e dai tratti femminei, che qualcuno dei frati, si dice, scambia per un eunuco. Ma tanta è la perfezione con cui “Marino” trascorre la sua nuova vita – e favorevole l’ambiente solitario a mantenere il riserbo – che lo stratagemma passa inosservato. La barba che continua a non crescere sulle guance di Marino è spiegata con l’intensa vita ascetica e comunque non importa. Quel giovane è un fiore all’occhiello del monastero e suo padre è un uomo di nuovo felice. Una gioia lunga tre anni, poi Eugenio si spegne.

Infamia e redenzione

Un giorno fra’ Marino viene inviato con altri confratelli a sbrigare una faccenda. Si fermano a dormire in una locanda nella quale, quella stessa notte, la figlia del locandiere viene stuprata da un soldato di passaggio. Quando si scopre incinta, la ragazza accusa i frati e in particolare Marino. Che potrebbe discolparsi facilmente, ma pensando a Cristo sceglie di addossarsi la colpa di cui è estraneo. Così il monaco modello finisce nel fango dell’ingiuria. Punito, espulso dal monastero, obbligato ad accudire il neonato. Passano tre anni di stenti. Marino non si allontana dal cenobio. Langue nell’elemosina ma si dedica al bimbo con tutto l’affetto. I suoi antichi confratelli ne rimangono colpiti e chiedono all’abate la riammissione, concessa a patto che fra’ Marino si dedichi ai frati nei lavori più servili. Il giovane non fa una piega, riprende il saio con più zelo di prima continuando a curare il figlio adottivo.

Miracolata

Il logorio fisico che ha patito e patisce esige il suo prezzo. Un giorno lo trovano morto nella sua cella. Marino ha solo 25 anni e una storia che riempie due vite. L’ultimo colpo di scena avviene quando i frati, ricomponendo la salma, ne scoprono l’identità e comprendono con enorme dolore l’infamia sopportata in silenzio da quel monaco così umile, anzi dalla ragazza. Si racconta che la giovane che lo aveva calunniato, posseduta dal demonio, sia accorsa al letto di morte implorando il perdono di Marino venendo guarita all’istante. Di prodigi operati già in vita se ne era parlato, ma dal momento della morte i segni straordinari attribuiti a Marina di Bitinia si moltiplicano. Dal 1200 le sue spoglie sono custodite e venerate a Venezia, di cui è compatrona.

(Vatican News)

Quadro olio su tela raggigurante Santa Marina Vergine Patrona e Protettrice di Santa Marina di Milazzo (Messina)

La vita di s. Marina (quella del 18 giugno) ha alcune caratteristiche non riscontrabili con altri santi. Per prima cosa la narrazione e la ricerca si confonde in alcuni tratti con ben tre omonime: s. Marina d’Antiochia martire (20 luglio), s. Marina di Orense (18 luglio) e la beata Marina di Spoleto che si festeggia lo stesso giorno 18 giugno.

Per secondo aspetto, lo studio di s. Marina ha appassionato in ogni tempo gli agiografi, cosicché si è creata una massa di documenti – recensioni di ben dieci lingue orientali ed occidentali, convergenti e divergenti nel racconto e nella ricerca storica che fra l’altro ne asserisce l’esistenza.I vari Stati in cui si diffuse il culto presero a localizzare la vita della santa nel proprio territorio per cui abbiamo che la sua origine è stata in Egitto, Tracia, Bitinia, Sicilia e Libano. Sembra che il Libano sia la versione più accreditata, e che sia avvenuta nel corso del V secolo.

Per quanto riguarda il racconto della vita, esso ha delle attinenze con alcune sante che si sono trovate più o meno, nella stessa situazione, Apollinaria, Atanasia, Anastasia, Eufrosina, Eugenia, Teodora.

Si potrebbe quasi ricavare un film o un’opera teatrale dalla storia di s. Marina: Amava a tal punto il padre che quando questi rimasto vedovo, volle ritirarsi in convento, pur di non lasciarlo, si vestì da uomo e cambiò il nome in Marino, giustificò i suoi tratti femminili, facendosi passare per un eunuco. Dopo la morte del padre lei continuò nella finzione e condusse vita monastica regolare. Un giorno accompagnò un gruppo di monaci in un luogo lontano e quindi dovettero trascorrere la notte in una locanda, ma il caso volle che la figlia del locandiere si lasciasse sedurre da un soldato, proprio quella notte e accortasi d’essere rimasta incinta incolpasse proprio lui Marino (Marina) del fatto. Il locandiere protestò presso l’egumeno del convento: Marina non cercò di discolparsi, fu cacciata dal monastero e dopo la nascita, le fu affidato il bambino che riuscì ad allevare con mezzi di fortuna. Rimase comunque sempre nei dintorni del convento piangendo e pentendosi di una colpa non sua.

L’egumeno colpito da tanto pentimento dopo tre anni l’ammise di nuovo nel convento, dove ella fu, come per il passato, esempio di osservanza monastica.

Poco tempo dopo Marina-Marino morì e al momento di vestirlo con i panni funebri, i monaci stupefatti si accorsero del suo reale sesso e compresero così di quale diffamazione fosse stata vittima e come lei l’avesse accettata con la più grande rassegnazione.

Le varie chiese orientali la commemorano in vari e diversi giorni dei loro calendari; il Martirologio Romano la pone al 18 giugno ed è in questa data che a Parigi da secoli si venera s. Marina - Marino.
L’origine del nome viene dal latino Marinus “uomo del mare” ma è anche vero che l’origine può essere Marius (Mario). Molto diffuso in Italia e Francia, un diminutivo di Marina molto usato è Marinella.

Autore: Antonio Borrelli

SOURCE : https://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/90221

Detalle de altorrelieve representando a santa Marina Virgen en el atrio exterior de la parroquial de Torrebaja, Valencia

História de Santa Marina

Origens

Marina nasceu no Líbano, no século VI. Seu pai se chamava Eugênio e era um cristão fervoroso. Sua mãe faleceu quando Marina ainda era criança. Filha única, seu pai a educou na fé cristã. Os dois desenvolveram uma profunda ligação.

Mudança de planos

Certo dia, quando Marina já era jovem e podia cuidar de si, seu pai lhe falou do grande desejo que ele tinha de se tornar um monge. E, para isso, ele iria abrir mão de todos os seus bens e doá-los aos pobres. Tal decisão, porém, deixou Marina inconsolável, pois teria de se afastar definitivamente de seu pai que tanto amava, uma vez que, no mosteiro, mulheres não podem entrar.

Vestindo-se de homem

Vendo que seu pai estava irredutível e procurando uma maneira de permanecer perto do pai, Marina propôs ingressar também no mosteiro, porém, vestida como homem. Eugênio aceitou feliz a resolução da filha. Vendeu todos os bens que possuía e doou para os pobres. Marina cortou seus cabelos, disfarçou-se de homem jovem cujo nome passou a ser “Marino”. Ela prometeu ao pai guardar sua virgindade e oferece-la a Deus na vida religiosa. Assim, os dois ingressaram no mosteiro.

A vida monástica

Eugênio e “o jovem Marino” passaram a viver a vida monástica. "Marino" encontrou-se e fazia progressos na virtude e na vida de oração. Os monges nunca desconfiaram que "Marino" fosse mulher. Porém, estranhavam sua voz, a delicadeza (que ela procurava disfarçar) e as características masculinas que ela não tinha, como barba, corpo forte, etc. Eles atribuíam essas diferenças à rigorosa e austera vida religiosa que ela praticava, com jejuns e sacrifícios constantes.

Mudança dramática

Aconteceu que, pouco tempo depois, Eugênio veio a falecer. “Marino”, porém, decidiu continuar vivendo no mosteiro, continuando com suas práticas de oração, jejuns, sacrifícios e caridade. Todos o admiravam como “monge”. Havia uma regra no mosteiro segundo a qual uma vez por mês, quatro monges saiam para pedir esmolas e angariar fundos para a sobrevivência do mosteiro e de alguns eremitas que viviam isolados na região. Então, chegou a vez de “Marino” e outros três monges parirem para cumprirem esta missão. Aí começou outra grande mudança em sua vida.

Calúnia

No meio do caminho que eles tinham que percorrer, tinha hospedaria onde os monges costumavam ficar. Marino e os outros passaram lá uma noite e seguiram viagem. O dono da hospedaria tinha uma filha que tinha sido engravidada por um soldado. Este, não querendo assumir o filho, convenceu a moça a acusar “Marino”, o belo monge que tinha passado uma noite na hospedaria tempos atrás. O pai da moça, ao saber do fato, contou ao abade do mosteiro.

Sofrimento

“Marino” não se defendeu, mesmo sendo inocente. Ao contrário, preferiu calar-se, pois tinha prometido a seu pai nunca revelar que era mulher. Por isso, o abade o expulsou do mosteiro. A criança, depois de nascida, foi entregue a “ele” para que cuidasse dela. Pelo tempo de três anos “Marino” cuidou do bebê, criou-o e viveu às portas do mosteiro, implorando a Deus a misericórdia e vivendo da caridade dos outros.

De volta ao mosteiro e morte

Vendo o sofrimento e a retidão de "Marino", o abade admitiu-o novamente como monge no mosteiro e devolveu a criança para sua mãe. Porém, impôs a “Marino” os serviços mais pesados e humilhantes como forma de penitência pelo suposto “pecado” que ele cometera. Por causa do serviço pesado, das dificuldades e dos jejuns que ele praticara, já muito fraco, ele veio a falecer.

A revelação

Quando os monges foram preparar o corpo para o sepultamento descobriram, por fim, que “Marino” era mulher. Consequentemente, inocente. Choraram e se arrependeram por terem tratado injustamente a uma pessoa inocente. O corpo de Santa marino foi sepultado no próprio mosteiro, com hinos e salmos de louvor a Deus, agradecendo pela pureza e santidade da santa.

Milagres

Foram relatados vários milagres por intercessão de Santa Marina. No ano 1230 seus restos mortais foram trasladados para Veneza, onde são venerados até os dias de hoje na igreja Santa Marina Formosa. Santa Marina passou a ser invocada como poderosa intercessora nas grandes provações, nas doenças e nas calúnias.

Oração a Santa Marina

“Ó adorável e humilde Santa Marina, que abdicaste do conforto e te entregaste à humilhação pública por obediência ao projeto de Deus, rogo-te que mostres a mim o melhor caminho a seguir, para o serviço ao próximo e a glória de Nosso Senhor Jesus Cristo. Ajuda-me a ser sempre humilde e benevolente, como fostes tu. Afasta da minha vida a arrogância e o sentimento de superioridade que nos afastam do amor de Cristo. Intercede por mim junto ao pai, para que eu alcance a graça que fervorosamente desejo (fazer o pedido). Prometo que continuarei no caminho da fé e da humildade, não me esquecendo de ti e mantendo minha devoção nos tempos de bonança. Além disso, prometo levar tal devoção por toda a minha vida, permanecendo no projeto de Deus e na caridade para com os mais necessitados. Amém”

Rezar 1 Pai Nosso, 1 Ave-Maria, 1 Creio, 1 Salve Rainha, 1 Oração ao Espírito Santo e 1 Glória ao Pai

SOURCE : https://cruzterrasanta.com.br/historia-de-santa-marina/443/102/