**SAINT PULCHERIA** – She is commemorated in the Greek and Latin Martyrologies on September 10.
Daughter of Emperor Arcadius, born on January 19, 399, she consecrated her virginity to God, even persuading her two sisters to do the same. Though living at court, she led an austere life of prayer and good works. On July 4, 414, after her father’s death, she was acclaimed Augusta and regent for her young brother Theodosius II, who had ascended to the throne. She arranged his marriage to Athenais, whom she herself had converted to Christianity and who took the name Eudocia. She worked diligently to build churches, hospitals, hospices for pilgrims, and monasteries, and especially to ensure the proper conduct of the Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon, earning high praise from St. Leo the Great and all ancient historians. In opposition to her brother the emperor, who was poorly advised by courtiers, she was for a time forced to live in seclusion. But when Theodosius died in 450 without heirs, Pulcheria was recognized as empress. She quickly associated with the elderly senator Marcian, whom she later married on the condition that he respect her vow of virginity. Even then, the court was still influenced by the wicked advisors of Theodosius, beginning with Chrysaphius, who had been the prime instigator of all the late emperor’s misdeeds. She died on September 10, 453, leaving all her private wealth to the poor, and was buried in the Church of the Apostles.
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