Today’s offering in the calendar of Saints is one whose real name we really don’t actually know the Samaritan woman at the well that we encounter in our Gospel reading today. Early Christians thought she was important enough to give a name–Photini (sometimes spelled Photine), which means “person of light” or “luminous one.” She certainly illuminated Jesus in their interchange!
All we know about her is she’s “that woman at the well.” We have no idea when she was born, or what her life was like. Again, early Christian tradition teaches that she was a witness to the faith. Some said her evangelical skills equaled that of the Apostles. Ironically, legend has it that she was martyred under Emperor Nero by being tortured and finally thrown into a dry well.