Piama of Alexandria

Holy Venerable Piama of Alexandria, a virgin, struggled near Alexandria and is remembered because by her prayer she kept a village from calamity.

In her mother's house she lived as in a voluntary enclosure: she saw no one, ate only every other day, and after prayer spun flax. God gave her the gift of foresight. The people of a neighbouring, larger village, blinded by greed, wished to destroy the villagers of the virgin so as to share the waters of the Nile flood only among their own fields. St Piama learned of this wicked plan in the spirit and told the elders of her village. Terrified, they fell at her feet and begged her to go to the neighbours and stop them from the crime.

The venerable one did not go, since she had long ago renounced all contact with people. She spent the night in prayer. The next morning the armed men of the neighbouring village, who had set out toward her village, stopped suddenly and could not take another step. The Lord showed them that the prayer of the virgin Piama was holding them back. They came to their senses and repented, sent envoys to the village to ask for peace, and said, “Give thanks to God, who has delivered you through the prayers of the virgin Piama.”

The saint departed in peace to the Lord in the year 337. She is commemorated on 16 March, in the new style.