Saint Pudentiana

For his holy daughter, whom the Church commemorates today in its office, seeing herself mistress of her goods upon the death of her parents, she sold them to give the money to the poor Christians, who were in extreme misery during the persecutions. She also had such power, through the admirable example of her life, over the minds of her servants, who were nearly a hundred in number, that they were baptized. And as the emperors forbade, under great penalties, for Christians to assemble, and they could not do so publicly, the Popes would retire secretly to her home to celebrate Mass there and administer the Sacraments to the faithful who came to find them there. The Saint, with her sister Praxedes, received them all there with p Praxède Roman virgin of the 2nd century, daughter of the senator Pudens. erfect charity and great joy, and provided them with everything they needed. Besides the many good offices that these two holy sisters rendered to the living, they did not forget the deceased: on the contrary, they took such great care of them that it is mainly in this good work of mercy that both have made themselves commendable to posterity. It is also in the practice of such a Christian action that they ended their days, as we shall see more fully in the life of Saint Praxedes, which we must provide on July 21. Her sister Pudentiana died some time before her, namely: on May 19 of the year 160, or thereabouts, under the pontificate of Saint Pius I, as is marked in her Acts. From this we necessarily infer, either that these two Sain ts lived for saint Pie Ier Sovereign pontiff and martyr of the 2nd century. a very long time, or that they were not yet in the world when their father was baptized by Saint Peter, since this Apostle was martyred with Saint Paul nearly ninety years earlier, namely: the year 69. Perhaps there is some error in their chronology; but it is difficult to decide what it is.

The body of Saint Pudentiana was buried in the sepulcher of her parents, in th e cemetery called Saint Priscilla. T cimetière appelé de Sainte-Priscille Initial burial place of the saint. his is not the Saint Priscilla spoken of in the Acts of the Apostles and in the Epistles of Saint Paul, nor the one mentioned in the Acts of Saint Marcellus, Pope; but another, wife of Punicus, mother of Saint Pudens, and grandmother of our saints Pudentiana and Praxedes, as has been judiciously noted by Bosio, author of the book enti Bosio Author of 'La Rome Souterraine'. tled: *Subterranean Rome*, b. IV, c. 28, although the cemetery that bears her name is not different from the one that Saint Marcellus had made by the other Priscilla, of whom we have just spoken: for what he had made was only an enlargement and an ornament for the convenience of the burials.

Since then, the holy relics of this servant of God have come to honor France with their presence, and they still rest there today (1872), in the Church of Châtillon-sur -Loing, formerly of Châtillon-sur-Loing A location in France where relics of the saint are kept. the diocese of Sens, and now of that of Orléans; they have performed many miracles there.

Saint Pudentiana gave her name to a suburb of Châlons-sur-Marne where a chapel was erected under her invocation, and where a very famous pilgrimage was established. A miracle occurred there in 1864. A young girl from Bergère-les-Vertus, Fél icie Bonnet, t Félicie Bonnet Young girl miraculously healed in 1864. wenty-three years old, crippled in one leg for twenty-five months, was suddenly healed in the Saint's chapel where she had been transported. This great Saint has always been singularly honored in Rome, and the sanctuary that bears her name in the Eternal City has been declared by the Roman Church to be the oldest in the world.

Saint Pudentiana is represented giving burial to the bodies of the martyrs, or holding the oil-filled lamp of the wise virgins. This lamp often takes the form of a warming pan, like the 'crois-yeux' of our countryside, suspended by a chain.