SAINT AFRA OF AUGSBUG TORTURED WITH TORCHES AND THEN BURNED ALIVE
The persecution of Dioclesian was carried on with great cruelty by his colleague Maximian Herculeus in Africa, Italy, Rhetia, Vindelicia, Noricum, and Upper Pannonia, the government of which provinces fell to his share in the division of the empire. At Ausburg, in Rhetia, the apparitors apprehended a woman called Afra, known to have formerly been a common prostitute.
The judge, by name Gaius, who knew who she was, said: “Sacrifice to the gods; it is better to live than to die in torments.” Afra replied: “I was a great sinner before I knew God; but I will not add new crimes, nor do what you command me.” Gaius said: “Go to the capitol and sacrifice.” Afra answered: “My capitol is Jesus Christ, whom I have always before my eyes. I every day confess my sins; and, because I am unworthy to offer him any sacrifice, I desire to sacrifice myself for his name, that this body in which I have sinned may be purified and sacrificed to him by torments.” “I am informed,” said Gaius, “that you are a prostitute. Sacrifice, therefore, as you are a stranger to the God of the Christians, and cannot be accepted by him.” Afra replied: “Our Lord Jesus Christ hath said, that he came down from heaven to save sinners. The gospels testify that an abandoned woman washed his feet with her tears, and obtained pardon, and that he never rejected the publicans, but permitted them to eat with him.” The judge said: “Sacrifice, that your gallants may follow you, and enrich you.” Afra answered: “I will have no more of that execrable gain. I have thrown away, as so much filth, what I had by me of it. Even our poor brethren would not accept of it, till I had overcome their reluctance by my entreaties, that they might pray for my sins.” Gaius said: “Jesus Christ will have nothing to do with you. It is in vain for you to acknowledge him for your God: a common prostitute can never he called a Christian.” Afra replied: “It is true, I am unworthy to bear the name of a Christian; but Christ hath admitted me to be one.” Gaius said: “Sacrifice to the gods, and they will save you.” The martyr replied: “My Saviour is Jesus Christ, who upon the cross promised paradise to the thief who confessed him.” The judge said: “Sacrifice, lest I order you to be whipped in the presence of your lovers.” Afra replied: “The only subject of my confusion and grief are my sins.” “Sacrifice,” said the judge, “I am ashamed that I have disputed so long with you. If you do not comply, you shall die.” Afra replied: “That is what I desire, if I am not unworthy to find rest by this confession.” The judge said: “Sacrifice, or I will order you to be tormented, and afterwards burnt alive.” Afra answered: “Let that body which hath sinned undergo torments; but as to my soul, I will not taint it by sacrificing to demons.” Then the judge passed sentence upon her as follows: “We condemn Afra, a prostitute who hath declared herself a Christian, to be tortured and then burnt alive, because she hath refused to offer sacrifice to the gods.”
The executioners immediately seized her, and carried her into an island in the river Lech, upon which Ausburg stands. There they stripped her and tied her. She lifted up her eyes to heaven, and prayed with tears, saying: “O Lord Jesus Christ, Omnipotent God, who camest to call not the righteous, but sinners to repentance, accept now the penance of my sufferings, and by this temporal fire deliver me from the everlasting fire, which torments both body and soul.”
Whilst the executioners were torturing her young body with flaming torches she said: “I return thee thanks, O Lord Jesus Christ, for the honour thou hast done me in receiving me a holocaust for thy name’s sake.” A fire was lit under her. “I offer myself a victim to thee, O my God, who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost world without end. Amen.” Having spoken these words she gave up the ghost, being suffocated by the smoke.
