MARCH 12. fina, who spotted a murderous serpent in the rafters
experiment: |
Physically challenged people and spinners
Fina was born into a noble family in decline. When she was a young girl, she contracted a serious illness that caused her to become progressively more paralyzed and misshapen. Renowned for her great beauty and well-proportioned body, all Fina’s physical loveliness was ruined when the illness took over her body. Still, she endured this lengthy ailment without complaint. According to one chronicler, “during her life, she rose higher and higher in virtue until the time of her death, when she came face to face with Our Lord Jesus Christ.” WHEREIN VERMIN DINE ON HER BEDSORES Refusing the comforts of a bed, Fina reclined on an oak plank six straight years. She would not allow her caretakers to shift her position or change her attire, and eventually her flesh became rotted with sores. Worms fed on her flesh through the wood and rats sometimes gnawed her or licked her blood. She was unable to shoo the vermin away. She fixed her eyes on Christ on the cross and said, “it is not my wounds, O Jesus, but thine that hurt me.” WHEREIN SATAN MURDERS HER MOTHER While she was ill, Fina’s mother was her chief caretaker. One day, as her mother returned home from church, she collapsed on the doorstep and died. When Fina heard the sad news, she cast her eyes heavenward and spotted a serpent in the rafters. She realized that this was no ordinary viper; it was the devil himself and he'd killed her mother! A servant lifted Fina’s paralyzed hand to conduct a sign of the cross, and the snake disappeared. Next, Fina gave thanks to God for her mother’s demise, because God’s will is best. Brave Fina resigned herself to God’s will. She desired for him to separate her soul from her body. MIRACULOUS DEATH TALE Once, Saint Gregory appeared to Fina and predicted that she would die on March 12. She did, and at the moment of her death, all the bells in her city rang without human hands touching them. By some accounts, the bells were rung by angels. This angered the devil, who retaliated by sending a great whirlwind and rainstorm. When Fina’s body was lifted from the pallet, onlookers saw white violets bloom from the wood and the scent of fresh flowers filled up her dwelling. The violets grew on the walls as well, and they still grow there to this day. MODERN-DAY HAUNTINGS There is a father on the internet who claims that--owing to a mystery involving a spinning receipt and a missing cigarette butt--his house is haunted by Fina (whose ghost has befriended his daughter). |