Unlike any work of fiction set in Ancient Rome, Marina: The Virgin Shepherdess returns the reader to the antichrist empire of the early fourth century through the eyes of a pagan influenced, Christian child. Though not a practicing Catholic, Lori Penn retells the story of this blessed Saint with such clarity the reader walks alongside the endless cast of richly developed characters as they hide their incriminating faith from the law of the land. Embark on a journey through the last day in the life of an innocent shepherdess from Antioch Pisidia, Turkey, under the reign of Emperor Diocletian. The favored daughter of the pagan High Priest of Apollo, and a former Vestal Virgin, Marina had every luxury and exquisite features that consistently placed her sacred vow of chastity on trial. Determined to enter the Kingdom of God a pure vessel for the Lord, Marina must fight for her virtues against the devil himself. Relying fully on her trust in the light of Christ, she overcomes insurmountable evil to become a shepherdess of men. Marina, arrested for her faith in Jesus Christ, must defeat the shadows of unbelief to burst free from the belly of a mighty dragon of hell. Flogged, burned, boiled, and finally beheaded, this young teen rises above the ashes to declare a higher truth for all who will listen, Jesus is alive. He is the righteous judge and His promises are trustworthy. The scriptural support of the work further emphasizes the powerful truth found in these pages. In the year of the Lord, 494 A.D., Pope Gelasius I declared Marina's story apocryphal because of the dragon. This depiction of her legacy allows the reader to assume that dragons have always existed in one form or another to deceive the hearts of men, leading them to wickedness or swallowing them whole in despair. The reader is encouraged to speculate whether God would find offense at the apocryphal status of His beloved, Marina. For He did not deliver her miraculously to have the hope therein brushed asid