Born:(around) 250 :: Died:(around) 320 feast day Dec 15
Nino was a Christian girl who was captured and carried off to Iberia as a slave. The people of Iberia did not believe in God but the people there admired Nino's goodness and purity.
Noticing how much she prayed, they asked her about her religion. The simple answer she gave them was that she adored Jesus Christ as God. God chose this pure, pious slave-girl to bring Christianity to Iberia.
One day, a mother brought her sick child to Nino, asking her to suggest a cure. The saint wrapped the baby in her cloak. Then she told the mother that Jesus Christ can cure the worst cases of sickness. She handed the child back and the mother saw that her child was completely cured.
The queen of Iberia learned of this miracle. Since she herself was sick and nobody could cure her, she asked Nino to come to the palace. Nino politely refused saying that she was a slave girl who had no place in a palace.
So the queen went to Nino who prayed over her and when she, too, was healed, she tried to thank the Christian girl. But Nino said: "It is Christ's work, not mine. And he is the Son of God who made the world." The queen wanted to reward her so Nino asked her to become a follower of Jesus Christ.
The queen told King Mirian the whole story of her cure. She repeated to her husband what the slave-girl had said of Jesus Christ.
Soon after this, the king got lost in a fog while out hunting. Then he remembered what his wife had told him. He said that if Jesus Christ would lead him safely home, he would believe in him. At once, the fog lifted, and the king kept his promise.
St. Nino herself taught the king and queen the truths of Christianity. They gave her permission to teach the people. Meanwhile, the king began building a Christian church.
Then he sent messengers to the Christian emperor, Constantine, to tell him of his conversion. He asked the emperor to send bishops and priests to Iberia. So it was that a poor slave brought a whole country into the Church.
This good work begun, Nino went to live alone in prayer on a mountainside at Bodbe, Kakheti where she died around the year 320.
No comments:
Post a Comment