Venerable Xanthippe and Polyxena of Spain (†c. 109) — September 23 / October 6 (Julian Calendar)

The Venerable Xanthippe and Polyxena were sisters by blood who lived in Spain in the time of the Apostles. They first heard of Christ’s saving teaching from the holy Apostle Paul. Saint Xanthippe accepted Christianity together with her husband, Probus, but Polyxena remained a pagan. A man, captivated by her beauty, took her away by force to Greece, but the Lord kept the saint unharmed. On the ship she heard the preaching of the Apostle Peter and believed in Christ. Upon arriving in Greece, Polyxena asked the Christians for protection and help, and they hid the blessed one in Patras, a city of the region of Achaia, where she was baptized by the hand of the Apostle Andrew the First-Called himself. The venerable mother witnessed the miracles wrought by the Apostle and was present at his martyrdom, and she saw with what calm he endured cruel torments. After the martyric death of Saint Andrew the First-Called, the holy mother returned to Spain and preached there for about forty years. Her sister Xanthippe stood at her side as well, preaching in the populous city of Toledo. The Venerable Polyxena departed this life around the year 109.