CRISTINA, Saint. — Her name appears in the Martyrologium Hieronymianum on July 24, with the topographical designation: “in civitate Tyro,” repeated in many versions of the Latin *Passio* and in the Martyrology of Rabanus Maurus. On the other hand, excavations carried out at Bolsena in 1880–81, in the ancient cemetery of St. Christina, confirmed that there, in the 4th century, was venerated the tomb of a martyr of the same name (v. BOLSENA). This veneration must not have been unknown to Ado (9th century), who in his Martyrology believed
was ambassador to Constantinople. Upon returning to Italy he
CRISTINA — CRISTINA OF SWEDEN
held her funeral, and then began a life full of physiological enigmas and such extraordinary things that she earned the nickname Mirabilis (the marvelous): she was light as a spirit, flew like a bird, lived in trees or on the pinnacles of towers, threw herself into ovens or boiling water without external injury. All these and other extravagances are recounted by the contemporary Thomas of Cantimpré (1232), but historical criticism sees in them the effect of credulity or erroneous interpretations of pathological phenomena. After a period of more normal life, she entered the Benedictine monastery of St. Catherine at St. Trond. She is missing from the *Martyrologium Romanum*. Her feast is on July 24 or 26.