{"id":142791,"date":"2026-04-03T05:00:46","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T09:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/?p=142791"},"modified":"2026-03-23T11:42:04","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T15:42:04","slug":"saints-agape-chionia-and-irene","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/saints-agape-chionia-and-irene\/","title":{"rendered":"Saints Agape, Chionia, and Irene"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">My dearest niece Irene,<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Life in this prison of a cubicle is often quite oppressing, but whenever I get sad, I just think of all the blessings God has given me, including a niece like you. \u00a0I do so wish that I had a Bible here, though. Not only did they take my tattered pocket version, but they have blocked all Internet access to on-line Scriptures. May God forgive them. \u00a0That reminds me of today\u2019s saints (may they keep you in their prayers). They loved the Scriptures. One even died for them. In the year 303 that misguided Roman emperor Diocletian had made it a capital crime to possess even a page of the Christian Bible. \u00a0The three sisters Agape, Chionia, and Irene (they lived in Greece) happened to have some Biblical texts in their possession, so they hid them away. God permitted them to be arrested after they refused to eat meat that had been sacrificed to pagan gods. They were imprisoned and interrogated, but they wouldn\u2019t budge; they valiantly defended the faith as the governor Dulcitius tried to make them abandon it. \u00a0Agape and Chionia were burned at the stake as punishment, but Irene was kept in prison (they hoped she would weaken after her sisters\u2019 gruesome martyrdom). Meanwhile a search of their house uncovered the hidden Scriptures, and Irene was called again before the governor. Asked who had ordered her to keep the documents, in direct defiance of the emperor\u2019s edict, she gave brave testimony: \u201cAlmighty God, who has commanded us to love him unto death. \u00a0For that reason we prefer to be burnt alive rather than give up the Holy Scriptures and betray him\u2026 They were hidden in the house, but we dared not produce them: we were in great trouble because we could no longer read them day and night as we had been accustomed to do.\u201d What love for God\u2019s Word those saintly young women showed! And how carelessly we treat the Bible, now that it is found in every bookstore and every hotel room and every church pew. \u00a0We have so many editions, translations, and versions, and we don\u2019t read any of them! Ah, now I know how St Irene felt! I\u2019m counting on your prayers, and keeping you in mine. Uncle Eddy<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My dearest niece Irene, Life in this prison of a cubicle is often quite oppressing, but whenever I get sad, I just think of all the blessings God has given [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":359,"featured_media":145992,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[3719],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-142791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncle-eddy"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"","pp_force_visibility":null,"pp_subpost_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_force_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_subpost_visibility":null,"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.8 (Yoast SEO v28.8) - 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