Cointha

Saint Cointha, martyr, also called Quinta or Cynthia, was a Christian of Alexandria who suffered in the persecution of the emperor Decius and died between 249 and 251. She is commemorated on 8 February. She was tormented by being dragged through the streets of the city, her feet tied to a horse.

The oldest testimony comes from Dionysius the Great, bishop of Alexandria, in his letter to Fabius of Antioch, which Eusebius of Caesarea quotes in the Ecclesiastical History. At the beginning of 249 disturbances of the crowd began in Alexandria, together with persecutions of Christians, which lasted about half a year. Dionysius says that a pagan soothsayer and poet stirred up the Alexandrian mob against the Christians. The first victim of the pagans was the old man Metras, who would not blaspheme, then a pious woman, Quinta, who would not bow to the idols.

According to Eusebius, the believing woman Quinta was taken to the temple and forced to bow to the idols, but she turned away in disgust. They bound her feet and dragged her through the whole city over the sharp stones of the pavement, scourged her, pushed her toward the millstones and, leading her to the same place where they had taken Metras, killed her.

The blood of the first martyrs enraged the pagans still more, and they began to kill Christians and plunder their houses.