May 17: Saint Restituta of Carthage

“Loose me, O Love, and let me willing go; Our life was love, and love be ours in death;
Plead now no more with eyes that are my sun,
A sun that’s setting towards a night begun.
Loose me, and let me with the waters flow
To darkness where yon red star beckoneth!


“O tenderly beloved, my love hath been
Idolatrous. Dear eyes too much adored,
The murdered Christ, our Master, Love Divine,
Hath raised His cross above thy gaze and mine
And set His own thorn-covered brow between
Two shuddering souls, Love’s Martyr and their Lord.


“O eyes of love, lift up! Dear eyes, look high
And seek for these no more, but stay on Him;
Sad longing lips, grow sweet and straight with prayer,
And mourn not my departure otherwhere,
Betwixt the lonely sea and threatening sky.
O passionate lips and eyes, grow meek and dim!”

They struck her speaking on her patient mouth
To silence, and from one in chains withdrawn,
Tore her and set her sweet eyes toward the sea,
Her gentle body unresistingly
Laid on the rotting hulk turned facing south,
And bound her thus with bare brow towards the dawn.


Flung were the long veils of her golden hair
Over the hulk to gild its shapeless prow,
And forth it went, a strange rich argosy:
“Now by the winds and waves go hence and die,
Ponder alone in terror and despair
The vain delusion of the Christian’s vow!”


Through sighing midnight outward darkly drove
The tide from Carthage, bearing on its breast
A living maid upon her funeral bier.
‘Mid sounds of death, poor quivering eye and ear
Alive to catch the last farewells of love
In solitary anguish, can ye not close and rest?”


(“Saint Restituta, Virgin-Martyr,” Rosa Mulholland, 1887)

Today, May 17, we celebrate the feast of Saint Restituta of Carthage (died 304), Virgin Martyr of the Church. Little is known about the life of Saint Restituta, but the facts of her heroic martyr’s death have been preserved throughout history.

Restituta was born in North Africa near Carthage, and lived a life of Christian virtue there. Still young, she had committed herself to Christ in marriage, vowing a life of chastity and temperance. In the last third century, during the reign of Emperor Diocletian, Christian communities were actively targeted for persecution. Among these communities was the Christian community at Carthage (in the city of Abitina), where a large number of Christians continued to meet to celebrate the Eucharist, despite prohibition by the emperor.

During one such Eucharistic celebration, fifty Christians were caught, arrested, and dragged in chains back to Carthage to be executed. Among these fifty was Restituta. Legend tells us that she was tortured more severely than her companions, likely due to her youth and beauty, and the expectation that she would recant the faith under pressure. After refusing to perform pagan sacrifices, she was covered in tar, tied to a blazing boat, and set adrift to perish at sea. Miraculously, she was unharmed by the flames, but died adrift at sea.

"Pancratium Maritimum," the lilies of Santa Restituta
(also known as sea daffodils)

It was not much later that a Christian woman, Lucina, was led by an angel to the shores of Ischia, where Restituta’s incorrupt body washed ashore. There, Lucina found the beach covered with fragrant flowers—the lilies of Santa Restituta (Pancratium Maritimum), and the body of the holy martyr. Lucina gathered the population together and the saint was solemnly buried in sanctuary dedicated to her. Eventually, her relics were translated to Naples, and a grand church, Santa Restituta, was built in her honor (sixty century). Each year, the story of Restituta is recalled for three days in May by the island community of Ischia, where an ancient wooden statue of the Saint is processed through the streets of town.

Year 2: Day 136 of 365
Prayer Intentions: Truth and courage, inspired by faith.
Requested Intentions: For personal intentions (A); Restoration of lost hearing (C); Resolution of relational and financial challenges (S); Comfort following loss of husband, security for family, assistance with housing (B); Healing and return of brother (O); Successful hermitage foundation (S); Support from family, permission to marry (H); Recovery of wife following surgery, freedom from depression (W); Protection and recovery of mentally ill daughter (J); Successful resolution to legal proceedings (N); Freedom from worry and successful employment (M); For successful sale of home and freedom from debt (J); Freedom from pain and illness (E); For successful living arrangements, travels, health, and studies (F); Healing, successful studies, financial success (F); For husband’s successful employment (Y); For children’s faith journey; Recovery of a friend suffering from addiction (M); Successful employment (P); Obedience to the will of the Lord (J); Financial recovery (S); Freedom from evil influence (I); Recovery from illness (J); Freedom from addiction (J); Successful transplant surgery (K); Healing for a daughter (T); Acceptance into school (V); Successful immigration; for a sister’s career and marriage (F); Financial recovery; Successful ministry (A); Financial ability to send children to school (S); Safe return of a runaway (J); Healing of a family (J).