Christiana the Astonishing was born a peasant in Belgium during the Middle Ages. As a young woman, she went into a seizure and was presumed dead. However, at her funeral it is said she awoke and “arose with full vigor†only to astound those in witness as she levitated to the ceiling of the church (later claiming she couldn’t bear the smell of the sinful people at her service). What was to follow was even more “astonishingâ€. Christina claimed that during her “near-death†experience she witnessed Heaven, Hell and Purgatory. She saw the extreme suffering and torment of sinners, so excessive that it was “impossible to give an idea of their rigor.†Eventually she is taken by the angels to Heaven where God gives her the choice to stay with Him or return to earth and suffer a life of constant misery and “charity suffering†on behalf of the poor souls she witnessed in Purgatory and Hell. She takes her mission back to earth without hesitation. For the rest of her long life on earth, Christina led an austere life without comforts and was constantly subjected to torture and torments. Like her third century predecessor, however, she never endured a cut, wound, broken bone or scar after emerging from burning furnaces, freezing waters, dog attacks, and the like. Christina just kept faithfully calling out for God’s mercy. She ended up dying an old woman of natural causes. Let’s hope she earned her place in heaven!
