Alena

Saint Alena was born in Dilbeek, near Brussels in present-day Belgium, to the noble pagan parents Levold and Hildegaart. Drawn by grace to Christ, she sought baptism in secret and, still hidden from her family, would slip away to attend Mass. When her father discovered her new faith, he believed she had been bewitched and sent guards to seize her and bring her home. Alena resisted, and in the struggle she lost an arm; imprisoned and grievously wounded, she soon died, around the year 640, offering her suffering as a witness to the Lord she loved. After her martyrdom, many graces were reported at her burial place. Tradition tells of a blind man restored to sight through her intercession, and of an angel bearing her severed arm to the chapel where she had prayed—signs that moved even her parents toward conversion. Venerated especially in Forest (Brussels), she is invoked for eye troubles and toothache. Her feast day in Lectio is June 18.