Marina of Aguas Santas

Saint Marina
Santa Marina, by Francisco de Zurbarán.
Born	119 AD
Died	139 AD
Feast	July 18

Saint Mariña of Aguas Santas (Mariña of Ourense) (119–139 AD) is a Portuguese saint. She is a virgin martyr associated with the town of Aguas Santas, in the province of Ourense. The story of her life as it has been preserved is a mixture of fact and fiction. She is venerated as one of nine sisters, one of whom is Saint Liberata (Santa Librada).

She is said to have been born in Bracara (today Braga, Portugal) to Lucius Catilius Severus, Roman governor of Gallaecia and Lusitania, and Calcia, his wife. Marina was one of nine daughters. Calcia, frightened that her husband would interpret this multiple birth as a sign of infidelity, ordered her servant Sila to drown the girls in the Miñor River.

Disobeying her mistress, Sila, secretly a Christian, left Calcia's daughters in the care of several families. Marina and her sisters were baptized by the bishop of Braga Saint Ovidius (Ovid, Ovidio) and brought up in the Christian faith. When they were twenty, they were accused of being Christians and brought before their father the governor. He recognized them as his own daughters, and asked them to renounce their faith, promising them luxuries.

The sisters refused and were imprisoned. They managed to escape and were ultimately martyred for their faith. A spring of water gushed out of the spot where they were beheaded; the spot was called Aguas Santas ("Holy Waters").

Marina's legend is similar to that told of another Portuguese saint, the virgin martyr Quiteria. Her legend was sometimes also confused with that of Margaret of Antioch, who was sometimes also called Marina. Due to a confusion with the popular figure of Wilgefortis, Liberata is sometimes represented as martyred on a cross.

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