OLYMPIAS, Saint. - She is commemorated in the Roman Martyrology on 17 December, but in the Greek Synaxaria on 24 July, which is the true dies natalis. Born in Constantinople in 368 to a noble and illustrious pagan family; left an orphan, she was educated as a Christian.

As a young girl she was given in marriage to a certain Nebridius, and having soon been left a widow she consecrated herself entirely to works of charity, refusing a second marriage despite the pressures of the emperor Theodosius the Great himself. Admired and praised for her virtues, she was enrolled among the deaconesses by the patriarch Nectarius; she became a true model of holiness and also founded a monastery near the Cathedral. Devoted to and a friend of St. John Chrysostom, she shared in his sorrows and persecutions during his exile, from which she also received 17 letters. She died at Nicomedia after 408.

Bibliography7 works

BIBL.: Palladius, Historia lausiaca, 144; PG 34, 1244-50; 52, 549-622; Sozomen, Hist. eccl., VIII, 9, 24, 27; BHG, 1374 ff.; Tillemont, XI, pp. 416-40, 629-31; Martyr. Romanum, p. 590.

Agostino Amore

@incollection{ec9_olimpiade_santa, author = {Amore, Agostino}, title = {Olimpiade, santa}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {IX}, pages = {96}, 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/olimpiade-santa} }

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Olympias, Saint

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