Those of you familiar with the history of Split will remember the famous Emperor, Diocletian, who started off loving the Christians... but when their vibes started to interfere with reading chicken entrails... he sorted the problem with a bit of ethnic cleansing... killed Christians in large numbers. When passing through Chalcedon he came across a young lass called Euthemia who turned out to be a little stubborn about her religious beliefs. Diocletian gave her the choice of renouncing Christianity... or being thrown to the lions. Just to make the choice a little easier, young Euthemia was tortured... put on the wheel. The lass chose to be lion meat in preference to changing her religion.
So, come the next big festival... big enough to warrant the entertainment of throwing Christians to lions, there was Euthemia at the front of the queue. The biggest lion quickly killed her... but didn't eat her body. The local Christians preserved her body. Diocletian didn't realise all the bother that would follow his cruel act. The Persians conquered the town in 602 and the body was transferred to Constantinople for safe keeping. Emperor Constantine (you recall, he converted to Christianity) was so taken by the young girl's saintliness that he constructed a huge lavish church to her memory in Constantinople. All went well for a couple of centuries... until the 'icon-slashers' took power in Constantinople. They wanted less worship of saints and more reading of scriptures.
This is where the spooky bit comes in. There are some documents recording that Euthemia's sarcophagus was destroyed... but others report seeing it rise like a phoenix in fire and float in the air towards the horizon. On July 13, 800 people of Rovinj saw the sarcophagus floating in the waves just off the beach. The men tried to pull the sarcophagus from the sea... up the hill... where they were going to build a cathedral in her memory. But the men couldn't move the big stone sarcophagus. One of the young lads of Rovinj heard Euthemia's voice asking him to move the sarcophagus. He went out and found two small calves... that is all he could find... went down to the beach... hooked up a couple of ropes and hauled the big stone sarcophagus up the long steep hill... all on his own. The people of Rovinj thought it was a miracle... they built the church to the St Euthemia that stands to this day. Euphemia's Day is celebrated on September 16 each year. Many visitors come to Rovinj to participate in the grandiose celebration with a rich program which takes place on the main square in Rovinj. Traditionally, on St. Euphemia's Day people eat mutton with sauerkraut... having tried that dish... there is not much celebration built into the menu.
Now, here is the point! Who performed the miracle? Euphemia... nice girl that she most certainly was... did not perform any miracles. She chose death over renouncing her religion... as have hundreds of thousands of people over the ages. The young boy did not perform any miracles. He heard voices... they have pills to treat such conditions today. No... the real miracle was performed by the two calves who hauled the heavy sarcophagus up the steep hill... where is the church commemorating their miraculous feat? Why aren't we feasting on St Calves ' Day. Just a thought.
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