WOMEN SAINTS AND MARTYRS SEPT. 12 - SEPT. 18

September 14

Sts. Caerealis and Sallustia, 251 A.D. Wife and her soldier husband martyred in Rome. They were converted by Pope St. Cornelius. Caerealis and Sallustia were slain during the persecution conducted by Emperor Trajanus Decius.



September 15

St. Eutropia, 5th century. A widow of Auvergne, France, revered for her holiness. She was praised by Sidonius Apollinaris.

St. Melitina, 2nd century. Virgin martyr of Marcianopolis in Thrace, modern Greece. She suffered in the reign of Emperor Antoninus Pius. Melitina’s relics were enshrined on the island of Lemnos, in the Aegean.

September 16

St. Edith of Wilton. Edith of Wilton was the daughter of King Edgar of England and Wulfrida. She was born at Kensing, England, and was brought as a very young child to Wilton Abbey by her mother, who later became a nun there and Abbess. Edith became a nun when fifteen, declined her father's offer of three abbacies, and refused to leave the convent to become queen when her half-brother, King Edward the Martyr was murdered, as many of the nobles requested. She built St. Denis Church at Wilton.

St. Ludmilla. Daughter of a Slavic prince, she married Duke Borivoy of Bohemia, whom she followed into the Church. They built a church near Prague and tried unsuccessfully to force Christianity on their subjects. On the death of Borivoy, his sons Spytihinev and Ratislav, who had married Drahomira, succeeded him, and Ludmila brought up the latter’s son Venceslaus. On the death of Ratislav, Drahomira became regent, kept Wenceslaus from Ludmila and reportedly caused her to be strangled at Tetin. d. 860.

St. Dulcissima. Virgin martyr known only as patron saint of Sutri, Italy, formerly part of the Papal States.

St. Eugenia, 735 A.D. Benedictine abbess, the daughter of the Duke of Alsace, France. She succeeded her aunt St. Ottilia as abbess of Hohenburg Monastery, France.

St. Euphemia, 303 A.D. Martyred virgin of Chalcedon. The traditions surrounding her death state that she was tortured and then slain by a wild bear because she refused to attend a pagan ceremony. A church was erected in her honor in the fifth century.

Sts. Lucy and Geminian, 300 A.D. Martyrs of Rome, Italy. Lucy was an elderly widow and Geminian a young catechist. Their cult was suppressed in 1969.

September 17

St. Hildegarde, 1179 A.D. Hildegarde was born at Bockelheim, Germany, in 1098. Afflicted with fragile health as a child, she was placed in the care of her aunt, Blessed Jutta, who lived as a recluse. Jutta eventually formed a community of nuns, and Hildegarde joined the group, becoming prioress of the house when Jutta died in 1136. Hildegarde moved the community to Rupertsburg, near Bingen on the Rhine, and she established still another convent at Eibengen around the year 1165, overcoming great opposition on many occasions. Hildegarde was known for visions and prophecies, which at her spiritual directors request, she recorded. They were set down in a work called Scivias and approved by the archbishop of Mainz and Pope Eugenius III at the recommendation of St. Bernard of Clairvaux. Living in a turbulent age, Hildegarde put her talents to work in the quest for obtaining true justice and peace. She corresponded with four popes, two emperors, King Henry II of England, and famous clergy. Her pronouncements attracted the fancy of the populace-drawing down upon her both acclaim and disparagement. Hildegarde wrote on many subjects. Her works included commentaries on the Gospels, the Athanasian Creed, and the Rule of St. Benedict as well as Lives of the Saints and a medical work on the well-being of the body. She is regarded as one of the greatest figures of the 12th century the first of the great German mystics as well as a poet, a physician, and a prophetess. She has been compared to Dante and to William Blake. This remarkable woman of God died on September 17, 1179. Miracles were reported at her death, and she was proclaimed as a Saint by the multitudes. She was never formally canonized, but her name was inserted in the Roman Martyrology in the fifteenth century.

St. Agathoclia, Virgin martyr, a patroness of a region in Aragon, Spain. Agathoclia was an abused slave who suffered for the faith in a public trial.

St. Ariadne, 130 A.D. Martyr of Phrygia. Ariadne was a slave in the household of a Phrygian prince. When pagan rites were performed in honor of the prince's birthday, she refused to take part. hunted by the authorities, she entered a chasm in a ridge. The chasm opened miraculously before her and closed behind her, providing her with a tomb.

St. Theodora, 305 A.D. Roman martyr. A wealthy woman of noble birth, she contributed freely of her fortune to ease the suffering of the Christians during the persecutions of Emperor Diocletian (r. 284-305). She died, perhaps by martyrdom, while the persecutions were still ongoing.

St. Columba, 853 A.D. A Spanish virgin and martyr of Cordoba. She served as a nun at Tabanos until the Moorish persecution started in 852. Going to Cordoba, she refused to deny the faith and was beheaded.

September 18

St. Richardis, 895 A.D. Empress and wife of Emperor Charles the Fat. The daughter of the count of Alsace, she wed the future emperor and served him faithfully for nineteen years until accused of infidelity with Bishop Liutword of Vercelli. To prove her innocence, she successfully endured the painful ordeal of fire, but she left Charles and lived as a nun, first at Hohenburg, Germany, and then Andlau Abbey. She remained at Andlau until her death.