Saint Verena ... an Egyptian nurse who taught Europe hygiene and medicine

Every year in September, Switzerland celebrates the anniversary of the departure of the Egyptian saint “Verena, musical celebrations and exhibitions are held for her. The saint owns dozens of shrines in Switzerland, Germany and Vienna. They also took her image as a slogan for their cities and vital institutions, which was also decorated with her statues and carved her image on her shields and seals, and her Also a statue in the Swiss embassy in Cairo.

Life story of Saint Verena

" Saint Verena was brought up in a Coptic family near Thebes" Luxor

In the era of Diocletian, the Roman Empire recruited two divisions from the region of Thebes to contribute to protecting the borders of the empire due to what was known about them of loyalty and courage, and among them was the medical caravan consisting of 6600 soldiers, which became famous as it was headed by the commander and Saint Morris. He is a brave and pious man from the city of Thebes. Egypt was a state belonging to Diocletian, so he issued orders to deport the band of Saint Maurice to western Europe to help Emperor Maximian's colleague to put down a popular revolution in southeastern France.

 The Theban Caravan was accompanied by some Coptic virgins who were preparing food and caring for the wounded and other works. Among them was Saint Verena, so she went with the caravan to Europe, and at the beginning of the journey, Emperor Maximian presented the Theban caravan to the altar of idols in order to incense to the idols and Saint Morris stood in his position He did not move, so he thought the emperor did not understand, so he asked his assistants to explain to him, but Morris explained to them that he and his soldiers were Christians and that they would not incense to their gods, so the emperor ordered the rest of the caravan to incense the idols, but none of them accepted the incense of idols, and the king kept repeating the matter until he had to kill them all in the end, because he There is not a single Copt who has renounced his faith.

After the martyrdom of the 6600 members of the Theban Caravan, Verena did not return to Egypt, but she went to Solothurn, Switzerland, and retreated in a narrow cave in northern Switzerland, "the border between Germany and Switzerland," with a group of virgins who came with her from Egypt. Verena was good at knitting and embroidering clothes, so she was helped by an old woman who lived Next to her cave to sell her hands and buy food and life supplies for her and all the virgins with her, and the people gradually began to get to know her and Verina began to learn their language until she became fully proficient in her.

And she used to serve the people of the region through her knowledge of nursing and her knowledge of the benefits of some herbs, their use as drugs for many diseases, and she taught them physical hygiene by washing with water accompanied by prayer in order to cure all diseases.

The tribes living in this region still worship idols and make multiple statues of the gods, but after they saw Verena and her faith, they began looking to know her God.

The literature of the Egyptian Church says about it: “she met offense with love, . God gave it a healing touch, and it was the reason for the beginning of the preaching of Christianity among the people of the region.