OLGA OF RUSSIA (Latin: Helena). - Born around 890, died in 970, wife of the Russian prince Igor I of Kiev (d. 945) and mother of his successor Svjatoslav, during whose minority she governed the Principality.

On a journey made to Constantinople (around 957), after a long wait, she was not admitted to the presence of the emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus until after she received Baptism. Having returned to her homeland, she refused the tribute demanded by Byzantium and turned to Otto I of Germany to obtain a Catholic bishop. Once the monk Adalbert of Trier had been consecrated and sent to O., he was able to remain there only a short time (961-62) because he was driven out by a pagan reaction. O. built in Kiev a church, of wood, dedicated to St. Sophia. She is venerated on July 11 in the Russian Church, while in the Latin Church her cult was not approved.

Bibliography2 works

BIBL.: Continuator Regionum, in MGH, Scriptores, I, p. 624; A. M. Ammann, Storia della Chiesa russa, Turin 1948, pp. 8-9.

@incollection{ec9_olga_di_russia_lat_elena, author = {Ghinato, Alberto}, title = {Olga di Russia (Lat. Elena)}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {IX}, pages = {93}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1952}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/olga-di-russia-lat-elena} }

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Olga of Russia

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