St. Pelagia, Promiscuous Actress

[5th century?] FEAST DAY: October 8

For the story of St. Pelagia we have two primary sources. The first is an entirely reliable account of the conversion of a notorious actress related by St. John Chrysostom in his Sermon 67 on St. Matthew’s gospel. There is one problem with St. John’s sermon—he never mentions the actress’s name. The second source is a detailed life of St. Pelagia written by a man who calls himself James the Deacon and claims to have known her. There is also a problem with James’s story: it is almost certainly a work of fiction.

Providing full-scale biographies for obscure saints was a minor industry in the early centuries of the Church. The discovery of the tomb of a previously unknown martyr or a passing reference in some document to a local holy man or woman was all it took to fire up the imaginations of storytellers. And the phenomenon continues. In 1802 archaeologists excavating in Rome’s Catacomb of St. Priscilla discovered the bones of a young woman named Philomena. Carved into the tomb slab were images of a scourge, three arrows, a palm frond, and a lily—the emblems of martyrdom and of virginity—along with an anchor, the symbol of hope. The find created a sensation in the Catholic world, and almost immediately the young woman was being invoked by the faithful as St. Philomena.

If ever there was an account of Philomena’s life, it has not come down to us. In fact, her name does not even appear on any of the ancient lists of Roman martyrs. But the devotees of St. Philomena did not have to wait long to learn all about their saint: in 1863 an Italian nun, Mother Mary Louisa of Jesus, claimed to have had a vision of St. Philomena during which the young martyr told her story. This “biography” is still in print today.

To return to St. Pelagia, St. John Chrysostom tells us she was an actress from Phoenicia whose reputation as a great lady of the stage and as a woman of notoriously easy virtue extended throughout Asia Minor. Her theatrical performances must have been especially lurid since St. John says, “Nothing was more vile than she was, when she was on the stage.” The men she took as her lovers became intoxicated with her. For Pelagia’s sake fathers abandoned their children, wealthy men squandered their estates. She even seduced the empress’s brother. Trying to account for Pelagia’s power over men, St. John wondered if she drugged them, and speculated that perhaps she used sorcery.

Then, inexplicably, grace came to Pelagia. She repented. She asked to be baptized. She entered a convent and lived the life of a saint until the day she died. That is all that we know for certain about the anonymous penitent that we call St. Pelagia.

James the Deacon’s version may not be anywhere near as reliable as St. John’s, but it is a good read. He began in Antioch, where eight bishops had gathered. It was a fine day, and they were all sitting outside the doors of a church, listening to a homily from St. Nonnus, bishop of Heliopolis. Suddenly down the street came a crowd of handsome young men and lovely young women, all splendidly dressed, and following a woman of ravishing beauty. The modest ladies of Antioch wore a veil in public, but this woman went through the streets with her head uncovered and her shoulders bare. The bishops lowered their eyes and turned their faces away from the lascivious sight. But Bishop Nonnus watched her until she was lost in the crowd.

Turning back to his brother bishops he said, “Did not the wonderful beauty of that woman delight you?” The bishops didn’t answer, embarrassed that the good old man had forgotten himself. So Nonnus repeated his question, “Did not her beauty delight you?” Still the bishops kept quiet. By now they must have been wondering if Nonnus had lost his self-control.

“How many hours did that woman spend washing, dressing, and adorning herself, then studying herself in the mirror to make certain that everything about her was perfect before she went out in public to show herself to her admirers?” Nonnus said. “We never spend so much effort to adorn our souls, to wash them with repentance and clothe them with the virtues so that we might appear pleasing to God.”

It was a clever sermon. Nonnus used an unexpected encounter with a shameless sinner prancing through the streets to teach his brother bishops a lesson in holiness.

Back in his room after the meeting had ended, Nonnus prayed for Pelagia, “O Lord, do not permit such beauty to remain a slave to demons.”

The following Sunday Bishop Nonnus was preaching in Antioch’s cathedral when Pelagia happened to be walking by. On impulse, she stepped inside the church. As Nonnus spoke about the mercy of God Pelagia began to reflect on her life; she was so filled with self-loathing and sorrow that she wept uncontrollably. As the congregation filed out of the cathedral, Pelagia sought out Bishop Nonnus and begged him to make her a Christian. The bishop heard her confession, gave her a concise instruction in the faith, and then baptized her. To celebrate Pelagia’s conversion, Nonnus invited the visiting bishops to a banquet. Afterward the bishop found her a room at the house of a pious Christian matron named Romana.

That night the devil woke Pelagia. “What evil have I ever done to you?” he asked. “Tell me how I have offended, and I will give you whatever you want. Only do not leave me. Do not make me a laughingstock.” Pelagia made the sign of the cross and drove the devil away.

Pelagia was wealthy. Now she freed her slaves, giving each of them gold and silver so they could begin new lives. Then she handed over the balance of her wealth to Bishop Nonnus for the relief of the poor and the suffering. One night she cropped her hair short, put on a tattered monk’s robe, and slipped out of Romana’s house.

Pelagia walked from Antioch to Jerusalem, where she lived as a hermit on the Mount of Olives. Because she was young and attractive and had no beard, the people of Jerusalem took her for a eunuch. Pelagia never corrected them.

Years later Nonnus’s deacon, James, went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land. In Jerusalem he heard about a pious hermit who lived on the Mount of Olives. When he reached the holy man’s cell, he was surprised to hear the hermit greet him by name.

A few days later, while James was still in Jerusalem, the hermit died. He joined the monks who went to prepare the hermit’s body for burial. When they stripped the body to wash it, the monks were astonished to see that the holy man was a woman. Only then did James recognize the hermit as Pelagia.