Dorothea of Caesarea

Who they were

Dorothy was a young Christian at Caesarea in Cappadocia at the end of the third century, known for her prayer, fasting and charity. The persecutor Sapricius imprisoned her to force her to sacrifice to the gods, and when she would not, handed her to two young women, Christa and Callista, who had denied Christ to save their lives; instead she brought them back to the faith.

Condemned to death, she was mocked on the way by a lawyer, Theophilus, who asked her to send him apples and roses from paradise. Tradition says that before she died an angel brought him, in the middle of winter, a basket of three roses and three apples; he believed, and was himself put to death for the faith.

The miracles

There was never a formal cause: Dorothy has been honoured as a virgin martyr since the early centuries. The story of the roses and apples is tradition, not an examined miracle.

Why that counted as sanctity

Dorothy kept her faith under threat of fire and, even in prison and on the way to death, brought others to Christ.

Connected on this site

• Paul VI Saint
  “However, with the promulgation of the motu proprio Mysterii Paschalis of Pope Paul VI, Dorothea was removed from the General Roman Calendar, being judged as not having "universal significance".” — Wikipedia