Saint Sarah of Antioch

Sarah lived in Antioch in Syria, came from a well-off family, and had married a high-ranking officer — one of those carrying out the persecutions ordered by Diocletian. She had two small children, and those children were the problem: she wanted to baptize them, and her husband didn’t. She decided to do it elsewhere. In Alexandria in Egypt there was a large Christian community that, for the moment, had been hit less hard: she set sail with her children to go there. During the crossing a storm broke out and it seemed the ship would sink. This is where the story becomes the one that has been handed down: Sarah cut her breast with a knife and with her blood traced a cross on the foreheads of the two children, then dipped them three times in the sea, calling on the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. She had done what the rite requires, with what she had. The storm passed, the ship reached Alexandria, and Sarah went to the priest Peter so he could baptize her children. When she told him what she had done at sea, it was decided that the baptism was already valid. Once back home, her faith could no longer be hidden. She died for it, around 305. The only written record of her is the Alexandrian Synaxarion, which sets her memorial on April 20. If your name is Sarah, today is your name day.