Saint Juliana of Nicomedia

Juliana was a young woman of Nicomedia, in Asia Minor, who died as a martyr around 304 during the persecution of the emperor Diocletian. Her name appears in ancient martyrologies, and her cult was very popular in the Middle Ages, though the details of her story come from later legendary accounts.

According to tradition, her pagan father betrothed her to a Roman official named Eleusius. Juliana, who had secretly become a Christian, refused to marry him unless he accepted the faith. Her father handed her over to the authorities, and she was tortured but remained steadfast. Medieval accounts say that in prison she struggled with the devil and overcame him, which is why she is often shown holding a demon on a chain. She was finally beheaded. Her relics were later venerated in Italy, especially in Cumae and then Naples, and her story was told in poems across medieval Europe.

In medieval England an Old English poem by Cynewulf told her story, and her image appears in many churches holding a chained demon, a sign of victory over temptation.

In Italy and Spain she is invoked by women in childbirth and by those who struggle against evil influences.