NINO, saint. — This is the Georgian name of the mulier captiva who, according to Rufinus (Hist. Eccl., X, 11), converted Georgia (Caucasian Iberia) to the Christian faith under Constantine the Great. She in fact cured Queen Nana of a mortal illness, and the latter was converted.
King Mirian likewise accepted the faith of Christ. On N.’s advice, Mirian built a church at Mzcheta, the capital of Georgia, and requested missionaries from Constantine, who sent him Bishop Pietro with a priest named Giacobbe. After the Baptism of the population of Mzcheta, N. preached the Gospel to the mountaineers, who refused to be baptized. She then went to lower Cachetia, east of Mzcheta, where she preached successfully. There N. succumbed to the deadly air of the country and was buried at Bodbe, the place of her death. Over her tomb a church was erected, most probably in the same fourth century, and from the fifth century onward it was already an episcopal cathedral. Eastern Christians celebrate St. N. on 14 January. In the Roman Martyrology, which commemorates her on 15 December, N. bears the name “Cristiana.”
Michele Tarchnišvili