St. Pelagia the Penitent

From her Lifa by James the Deacon, her Cotemporary.

PELAGIA was a famous actress in the city of Antioch, ^t that time the capital of Syria, and of the whole East. Her extraordinary beauty drew many lovers after her, and so unhappy was she as to yield herself up to a very sinful course of life, without the least re straint, although she professed herself a Christian, and had been formerly admitted into the number of Cate chumens who were under instruction for baptism, but had now left off her attendance at church for that purpose. It happened at this time, viz. about, the be ginning of the fifth century, that several bishops, and others of the clergy, were assembled at Antioch upon some ecclesiastical affairs; amongst whom was the holy prelate Nonnus, who, from a monk of the nion-

Bstery of Tabenna, was, on account of his admirable virtue and wisdom, raised to the see of Heliopolis. Th^se prelates were.oxlged in the neighborhood of the church of St. Julian the martyr, where they met together to treat upon the business that had called them to Antioch. One day, whilst they were sitting before the church with St. Nonnus, who was then entertaining them with a spiritual conference, to their great edification, Pelagia passed before them in great pomp, decked with gold, pearls, and precious stones, accompanied by a numerous train of young men and women. Her beauty with the lustre of her jewels, and her rich attire, drew the eyes of all the fond ad mirers of these empty toys upon her; but whilst the prelates turned away their faces aside, because having no veil over her head, and her very shoulders being uncovered, they were offended at the immodesty of her dress, Nonnus only seemed to take notice of her, and to consider her with great attention. After she had passed by, turning to his fellow-bishops, he said to them, with many sighs and tears: " I fear God will one day bring this woman to confront us before the throne of his justice, in order to condemn our negligence and tepidity in his service, and in the discharge of our duty to the flock he has committed to OUT care. For how many hours do you think she has employed this very day in her chamber in washing and eleaning herself, in dressing, adorning, and embellish-

B86 ST. PELAGIA THE PENITENT.

ing her whole person to the best advantage, with a view to exhibit her beauty to please the eyes of the world, and particularly her" unhappy lovers, who, though alive to-day, may possibly be dead to-mor row? Whereas we, who have an Almighty Father, an immortal Spouse, in heaven, to whose love and ser vice we have consecrated ourselves; — we, — to whom the immense and eternal treasures of heaven are promised as the reward of our short labors upon earth, are far from taking as much pains to wash and purify our souls from their stains, and procure for them those bright ornaments of virtue and sanctity, which alone can render them truly agreeable in the eyes of God." Having spoken to this effect, he rose up and returned home, where, prostrating himself on the floor, he bitterly lamented his misery, in having buffered himself to be thus outdone by a sinful woman, and implored the divine mercy for the forgiveness of his negligence and tepidity.

The next day being Sunday, all the bishops assem bled in the great church where the patriarch of Anti-och celebrated mass. After the gospel was read, he presented the book to St. Nonnus, and desired him to make an exhortation to the people. The holy prelate obeyed, and made a most pathetic discourse, full of the unction of the spirit of God, on the subject of the ast judgment, and of the world to come, which drew tears from the 3yes of the whole auditory, amongst whom was Pelagia, who had not been within a church for a long time before, and h^s sermon made so deep an impression on her soul, that she could not refrain the whole time from sighing, and sobbing, and pouring out floods of tears, through the deep sense she con ceived of her sins. As soon as the divine service was over, she sent a letter to the holy prelate to this effect.

To the holy disciple of Jesus Christ, from a sinful wretch, a scholar of the devil. I have learnt that the God whom you worship came down from heaven to the earth, riot for the sake of the just, but to save poor sinners, and that he humbled himself so far as to suffer publicans to come to him, and did not disdain to speak with the sinful Samaritan woman at the well; wherefore, as I understand, that though you never have seen him with your mortal eyes, you are nevertheless a follower of his, and have served him faithfully for many years, I conjure you, for his sake, to show yourself to be his true disciple, by suffering a poor sinner to come to you, and not despise the extreme desire I have to approach to him through your assistance." The Saint sent her word, that if she was sincere in her desires of instruction and conversion, she might come to him to the church o. Julian, where he would speak to her in the presence of the other bishops, not thinking it proper to converse with her in private.

No sooner had Pelagia received this permission than she ran with all possible speed to the church, and cast herself at the feet of the holy prelate, earnestly beseeching him through the example of his great Master, to receive the worst of sinners, and cleanse her from the filth and abomination of her crimes, in the founta'n of baptism. The Saint told her, that by the discipline of the Church, persons who like her had been a long time engaged in criminal habits, could not be admitted to baptism without first producing proper sureties who should answer for her returning no more to their sinful ways; but she not being able to bear the enormous weight of her sins, or to continue any longer contaminated by their filth, would hear of no delay, wherefore embracing the feet of the servant of God, and washing them with floods of tears, she conjured them to baptize her upon the spot, in order to a new life, that she might instantly be pre sented without spot or blemish to Jesus Christ: this petition she urged with so much fervor, such demonetrations of a lively faith, and so ardent a desire of saving her soul, that the prelates were unanimously of opinion, that as the hand of God manifested itself in her favor in so extraordinary a manner, her request ought to be admitted. They therefore sent to acquaint the patriarch with all that had passed, who approving of her being baptized, sent the lady Romapa, the chief of the widows that were in the service of the great church, to attend her as godmother on the occasion. This good lady found her still bewailing her sins at the feet of the Saint, from which she could not be prevailed to remove, till he commanded her to rise, in order to proceed to the exorcisms and prayets as used by the Church before baptism. After making a public confession and detestation of all her crimes, he baptized her; and then, according to the custom of the Church in those days, administered to her the sacra ments of confirmation and of the body of our Lord. The same day, as our author relates, who being deacon to St. Nonnus was himself present, whilst the holy bishop and he sat at table together, rejoicing with the angels upon the conversion of so great a sinner, they heard distinctly before the door a voice as of one bitterly complaining in these or the like words: "Alas! alas! must I be continually tormented by thee in this manner? Not satisfied with having rob bed me heretofore of no less than thirty thousand souls of the nation of the Saracens, which thou hast presented to thy God; not content to have also snatched the city of Heliopolis out of my hands, where all the people worshipped me, must thou also bereave me of the greatest hope I had left? or dost thou think I can any longer bear with thee, or support the persesecutions thou makest me suffer? " In this manner did Satan express his grief At the loss of his prey, and his rage against the holy prelate, who took no of him, but armed his convert against all the effort* and temptations of this e.nemy, and taught her to drive him away by a confidence in her Saviour, and the sign of his cross.

The third day after baptism, Pelagia having taken an inventory of all her plate, jewels, rich clothes, and other goods, put it into the hands of St. Nonnus, saying: " My Lord, here is the whole of the goods I have acquired from the devil; I give them all up to your disposal; give such orders concerning them as you judgQ to be for the best. As to my part, I desire no riches for the time to come but those of my Saviour Jesus Christ." The holy prelate sent immediately for the treasurer of the church, and delivering the inventory into his hands, charged him, as he would answer for it before God, not to apply any part of her goods either to the service of the bishop or the church, but to distribute the whole to poor widows and orphans, and such like objects; — that as they had been ill got ten, they might now at least be well applied. On the same day Pelagia set all her slaves, both men and women at liberty, earnestly exhorting them, at the same time, to shake off that yoke of servitude by which they had, as well as herself, been slaves to a corrupt and sinful world; that passing over with her to the true liberty of the children of God, they might one day arrive with her at the enjoyment of that true and eternal lh?e which knows neither sin nor sorrow.

On the eighth day, when those that had been bap tized, according to the ancient custom of the Church, put off the white garment they received at their bap< tism, Pelagia rising privately in the night, exchanged her baptismal robe for a habit of haircloth, and an old nantle which she had received from St. Nonnus, and without communicating her design to any one but him, she withdrew from Antioch, and going into the Holy Land, took up her habitation for life in a narrow cell upon mount Olivet, where she lived as an anchoret, shut up in such a manner as to have only a small window through which she might receive the necessaries of life, and spending her whole time with our Lord in fasting and prayer. The other religious in habitants of this holy mountain were so perfectly ignorant who she was, as not even to know whether she *vas a woman, so effectually had she concealed her sex, calling herself by the name of Pelagius; but they all admired the great abstraction, austerity, and sanctity of her life.

Some years after this, our author, James the deacon, made a pilgrimage of devotion to visit the.sepul chre of our Lord at Jerusalem. Upon this occasion his holy bishop recommended to him to inquire afte?.a servant of God named Pelagius, that led an anchorctical life upon mount Olivet. He executed his commission, little thinking that this anchoret was the faaious Pelagia whrm he had seen baptized, and who presently after disappeared and was no more heard of. But though he readily found out the cell, by inquiring of the religious who dwelt in the neighborhood, and went and spoke to her through the window, yet being much altered by her austerities, he knew her not. He told her he came by the desire of Bishop Nonnus to inquire after her. Nonnus, said she, is a great Saint, and I beg that he will pray for me With that she shut the window and began to sing Tierce, or the third hour of the divine office, whilst the deacon was praying without, much comforted with having seen so holy a person. Afterwards visiting the monasteries round about, and finding that all the ser vants of God, wherever he came, conspired in giving testimony to the wonderful sanctity of Pelagius, he resolved to return and visit this holy anchoret once more before he left the country, in order to receive Home wholesome instruction from him. When he came to her cell and knocked at the window, no one opened it to him, and when he called no one answer ed; — so that having continued for some time knocking and calling aloud, he began to think the anchoret was gone away. At length having forced open the window, he looked in and perceived the Saint to be dead. Having conveyed the news of her death to the neighboring religious, they immediately came, and opening the cell took out the body, in order to its being interred with all the honor due to so great a ser vnnt of God. The secret of her sex being now discovered and noised abroad, all the holy virgins that dwelt in the monasteries of Jericho and on the bankr. of the Jordan, in the place where our Lord was bap» tized, came out with lighted tapers in their hands, singng hymns and psalms, to meet the corpse of the Saint, which they conducted to their church, and there deposited it as a rich treasure.

Her name is recorded in the Roman Martyrology on the eighth of October, and the name of St. Non-nus on the second of December.