January 14

On January 2, we celebrated the feast of a grandchild of today's saint.

St. Basil the Great, who was born around 329, came from a family of saints.

Macrina, his father's mother, was one of his favorites. She seems to have

raised Basil. As an adult, he praised his grandmother for all the good she

had done for him. He especially thanked her openly for having taught him to

love the Christian faith from the time he was very small.

Macrina and her husband learned the high price of being true to their

Christian beliefs. During one of the Roman persecutions of Galerius and

Maximinus, Basil's grandparents were forced into hiding. They found refuge

in the forest near their home. Somehow they managed to escape their

persecutors. They were always hungry and afraid, but they would not give up

their faith. Instead, they patiently waited and prayed for the persecution

to end. They hunted for food and ate the wild vegetation and somehow

survived. This persecution lasted seven years. St. Gregory Nazianzen, who

shares Basil's feast day on January 2, recorded these few details.

During another persecution, Macrina and her husband had all their property

and belongings taken from them. They were left with nothing but their faith

and trust in God's care for them.

St. Macrina survived her husband but the exact year of each of their

deaths is not recorded. It is believed that Macrina died around 340. Her

grandchild, Basil, died in 379.

St. Macrina was a loving grandmother. She made Christianity beautiful to

Basil and the rest of her family because she really lived what she talked

about. We can ask St. Macrina to help us be the same kind of Christian she

was.

From: Saints for young readers for everyday.