I suppose it’s rather ridiculous that my favorite married Saints were only married for 30 days but, with apologies to Louis and Zelie, Luigi and Maria, etc, in my mind the witness of Timothy and Maura takes the cake.
St. Timothy1 was a third century Egyptian lector, an office which entailed far more than simply proclaiming the readings. He spent his evenings reading to the people of his village and preaching the Gospel. He married a pious young woman named Maura and was arrested for being a Christian only 20 days later. His captors, on the authority of Diocletian himself, demanded that Timothy surrender the books of Scripture to them. Timothy refused, saying he’d just as soon surrender one of his own children, and was horrifically tortured. When being blinded and hung upside down with a stone tied to his neck did nothing to weaken him, they chose to attack his heart instead of his flesh and brought in his blushing bride.
The governor, Arian,2 appealed to Maura’s hopes and dreams. After all, she’d only been married for 3 weeks. Didn’t she want to live the life she’d been promised? Didn’t she want to raise a family with her husband, to grow old with him? All he had to do was hand over the Scriptures and he’d be set free to live in peace to a happy old age. Maura listened intently and asked to speak to her husband.
When Maura was brought in to Timothy, she explained the governor’s offer. “But I, for my part, will never speak to you again if you deny Christ.” Timothy likewise encourage Maura to withstand the tortures she was facing and Maura walked out to Arius to declare her own faith and suggest that he give her the punishment that her crimes warranted. She too was tortured but refused to deny Christ.
Finally, Timothy and Maura were crucified facing each other and for 10 days they prayed together, sang hymns, and encouraged each other as they suffered for Christ. When one was weak, the other would be strong, reminding the beloved of what Christ suffered and the promise of future life. Ultimately, both found themselves welcomed into the arms of Christ, glorious martyrs. The witness of their courage and joy so inspired the governor that he, too, became a Christian and was eventually martyred himself. His feast day is on December 14 in the Eastern calendar.
Though they were married for only a month, Sts Timothy and Maura understood the purpose of marriage: to suffer together, encouraging one another in virtue as you seek to follow Christ. Like all martyrs, they gave up their lives; these two also gave up the beauty of a holy marriage. They gave up each other. May God bless all Christian marriages with the same spirit, that spouses may rejoice in suffering together, encouraging each other daily to live more fully for Christ!
But what does any of this have to do with mercy? Well, we’ve talked about people who experienced God’s mercy and who offered it to sinners. Here I think we have a couple who showed God’s mercy by refusing to allow each other to settle. It would have been entirely reasonable for a woman in love to ask her husband to apostatize for her. It would have been expected for Timothy to suggest that his wife run and hide, even if he wouldn’t do it himself. But God’s mercy doesn’t mean saying sin is okay or holding people to a low standard. In his mercy, God demands everything of us. And I think Timothy and Maura show the mercy of God because they loved each other too much to be content with mediocrity. God’s mercy is sometimes severe and here we see the mercy of a God who is too good to be nice, who loved these Saints too well to allow them to cave to the desires of their flesh.
You see, everything God does is mercy. I’ve been seeing this more and more this year. God’s mercy isn’t opposed to his justice, as though his mercy excuses sin while his justice delights in punishing. God’s mercy is simply his love in action. Which means that the consequences of our sin are a result of God’s mercy and the fear we feel is a result of God’s mercy and our desire to be more than we are right now and our hunger for greatness and our nagging guilt. Mercy takes addicts to rehab. Mercy sometimes issues an ultimatum. Timothy and Maura show us God’s generous mercy in allowing them to be martyrs and his severe mercy in demanding it.
Perhaps this week there’s somebody in your life who needs not the world’s mercy (“It’s cool, no big deal.”) but God’s mercy. This week, let’s pray not to be nice but to be merciful, to demand greatness from those we love and to suffer along with them as they seek to be transformed in Christ.
Once again, wonderful. Thank you for writing about these saints!
Oh my goodness, these two are so epic!!!! I love married saints, and these two are super-awesome. What a beautiful portrayal of true, sacrificial love. I’m so excited to tell my husband about this married couple!
AnneMarie recently posted…Let’s Make Holy Week Epic
Thanks for the info.
Take a journey into the past.
Thanks to your site.
My grandfather’s name was Timothy.
In honor of St. Timothy.