聖納黛麗及聖亞德里安
聖納黛麗是殉道者聖亞德里安(Adrian)的妻子，於306年在尼科米地亞(Nicomedia)殉道。
羅馬皇帝馬克西米安(Maximian)(+310)迫害基督徒時，聖亞德里安被捕，受酷刑折磨，寧死不背棄信仰。他妻子聖納黛麗從旁支持；隨着聖亞德里安殉道後，聖納黛麗也獲得殉道榮冠。夫婦兩人同享永福。
祈禱
天主，你的殉道者聖亞德里安及聖納黛麗，由你獲得了殉道的不朽榮冠。
天主，他們靠你的力量，使仇敵無地自容，並制勝了惡魔的猖狂。求你藉他們的轉求，拯救我們的靈魂。因你的聖子、我們的主耶穌基督，他和你及聖神，是唯一天主，永生永王。亞孟。
Saints Natalia and Adrian
Ss. Adrian and Natalia were pagans who were married for one year prior to their martyrdom, and lived in Nicomedia during the time of Emperor Maximian (250-310) in the early fourth century. The emperor promised a reward to whomever would inform on Christians to bring them to trial. The denunciations then began, and twenty-three Christians were captured in a cave near Nicomedia.
They were tortured, urged to worship idols, and then brought before the Praetor, in order to record their names and responses. Adrian, the head of the praetorium, watched as these people suffered with such courage for their faith. Seeing how firmly and fearlessly they confessed Christ, he asked: “What rewards do you expect from your God for your suffering?” The martyrs replied: “Such rewards as we are not able to describe, nor can your mind comprehend.” St Adrian told the scribes, “Write my name down also, for I am a Christian and I die gladly for Christ God.”
The scribes reported this to the emperor, who summoned St. Adrian and asked him, “Really, have you gone mad, that you want to die? Come, cross out your name from the lists and offer sacrifice to the gods, asking their forgiveness.”
St. Adrian answered, “I have not lost my mind, but rather have I found it.” Maximian then ordered Adrian to be thrown into prison. His wife, Natalia, knowing that her husband was to suffer for Christ, rejoiced, since she herself had secretly turned from paganism to Christianity.
She hastened to the prison and encouraged her husband saying, “You are blessed, my lord, because you have believed in Christ. You have obtained a great treasure. Do not regret anything earthly, neither beauty, nor youth (Adrian was then 28 years of age), nor riches. Everything worldly is dust and ashes. Only faith and good deeds are pleasing to God.”
On the pledge of the other martyrs, they released St. Adrian from prison to tell his wife about the day of his execution. At first St. Natalia thought that he had renounced Christ and thus had been set free, and she did not want to let him into the house. Adrian persuaded his wife that he had not fled from martyrdom, but rather had come to give her the news of the day of his execution.
St. Adrian was cruelly tortured. The emperor told Adrian to have pity on himself and call on the gods, but the martyr answered, “Let your gods say what blessings they promise me, and then I shall worship them, but if they cannot do this, then why should I worship them?” St. Natalia continued to encourage her husband. She asked him also to pray to God for her, that they would not force her into marriage with a pagan after his death.
The executioner ordered the hands and the legs of St. Adrian to be broken on the anvil. Fearing that her husband would hesitate on seeing the sufferings of the others, St. Natalia asked the executioner to begin with him, and permit her to put his hands and legs on the anvil herself.
The executioners were ordered to burn Adrian’s body, but a storm arose and the fire went out. Many of the executioners were struck by lightning. St. Natalia took the severed hand of her husband and kept it at home in a place of honor.
After Adrian’s death, an army commander asked the emperor’s approval to wed St. Natalia, who was both young and rich. But she hid herself away in Byzantium. St. Adrian appeared to her in a dream and said that she would soon be at rest in the Lord. St. Natalia, worn out by her former sufferings, soon fell asleep in the Lord.
The life of these two saints is living proof that marriage and common life should not be considered obstacles to salvation and holiness. Instead, it is a free choice to complement the weaknesses of the other. It becomes a life-saving struggle for couples in Christ and within the Church as “the church that meets at their house,” as the Apostle Paul describes the family: The couple Adrian and Natalia are a prime example of how spouses should contribute to God bless the marriage, that is, in the deification of all the members of the family.
Prayer
Troparion (Tone 4)
Your holy martyrs Adrian and Natalia, O Lord,
through their sufferings have received incorruptible crowns from You, our God.
For having Your strength, they laid low their adversaries,
and shattered the powerless boldness of demons.
Through their intercessions, save our souls!
資料來源 References
圖：
https://i0.wp.com/catholicism.org/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2000/12/Saint_Natalia.jpg
https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2015/08/saints-adrian-and-natalia-of-nicomedia.html
中文內容：https://www.catholic.org.hk/name/girl/N1.html
English text: http://ww1.antiochian.org/node/19333
https://orthodoxtimes.com/memory-of-martyrs-adrian-and-natalia-3/