Adapted from various sources, including Butler's Lives
St. Pulcheria, Virgin and Empress († 453; Feast – September 10)
In this incomparable princess virtue shone forth on the imperial throne in the brightest luster, and showed itself equally happy in itself,
and equally invincible in the trials of adversity, as well as those (which are usually more dangerous) of flattering prosperity.
The Empress Pulcheria was granddaughter to Theodosius the Great, and daughter to Arcadius, Emperor of the East, and his wife Eudoxia.
She was born in 399 and had three sisters – Flaccilla, who was the eldest, but died soon, and Arcadia and Marina, who were younger than Pulcheria.
Arcadius was a weak prince, always governed by his wife and his eunuchs; he reigned thirteen years from the death of his father Theodosius,
and died on May 1, at the age of only 31. He left a son, Theodosius, eight years old, and appointed for his minister and tutor Anthemius,
one of the wisest men of the empire, who had been a constant friend of St. Aphraates and St. Chrysostom.
St. Pulcheria was only five years old when she lost her mother, and nine when she lost her father; but for her prudence and piety she was,
from her infancy, the miracle of the world. On July 14, 414, though only fifteen years of age, she was declared Augusta (Empress),
in the name of her younger brother, and partner with him in the imperial dignity. Though but two years older, she was charged with the care of his instruction.
Her wisdom, capacity, and sedateness, in which she far exceeded any of her age, supplied her want of experience. To cultivate her brother's mind,
and give him an education suitable to his rank, she placed about him the most learned and virtuous masters, and made it her first concern to instill
into him sentiments of religion and piety, being sensible that all other qualifications are useless and often dangerous when not guided by these principles.
She taught him to pray with great devotion, to love the places of divine worship, and to have a great zeal for the Catholic Church and Her holy doctrine.
Whatever was valuable in that prince was, under God, owing to St. Pulcheria, and if she did not make him greater, all agree that nothing was wanting on her side.
She also took care of the education of her two surviving sisters, who, to the end of their lives, endeavored to tread in her footsteps.
Out of a motive of perfect virtue (not out of view of prudent policy, lest suitors for marriage should embroil the state),
at fifteen years of age she made a public vow of virginity, and induced her sisters to do the same. They had a share in all her employments
except those that regarded the state; they ate together, were united in all acts of devotion and charity, and what time was not devoted to exercises
of piety and to useful studies, they employed in working tapestry or embroidery. St. Pulcheria only absented herself when she was obliged to attend
upon business of the state, finding a solitude in the palace itself. The penitential austerities which she practiced were such as seemed rather to
suit a recluse than one who lived at court. Men were denied entrance into hers and her sisters' apartments, to avoid the least suspicion or shadow of danger;
and she never saw or spoke to any man except in public places. The imperial palace was, under her direction, as regular as a monastery.
In all emergencies, in imitation of Moses, she consulted Heaven by devout prayer; then listened to the advice of able
counsellors before she took any resolution in matters of weight. The imperial council was, through her discernment, composed of the wisest,
most virtuous, and most experienced persons in the empire; yet, in deliberations, all of them readily acknowledged the superiority of her
judgment and penetration. Her resolutions were the result of the most mature consideration, and she took care herself that all orders
should be executed with incredible expedience, though always in the name of her brother, to whom she gave the honor and reputation of all she did.
She was skilled in the Greek and Latin tongues, in history and other useful branches of literature; and as everyone must be who is endowed with
greatness of soul, and a just idea of the dignity of the human mind, she was the declared patroness of the sciences, and of both the useful
and polite arts. Far from making religion subservient to policy, all her views and projects were regulated by that virtue; and by this the
happiness of her government was complete. She prevented by her prudence all revolts which ambition, jealousy, or envy might stir up to
disturb the tranquility of the church or state; she cemented a firm peace with all neighboring powers, and abolished the wretched remains
of idolatry in several places. Never did virtue reign in the Eastern Empire with greater luster, never was the state more happy and more flourishing,
nor was its name ever more respected even among the barbarians, than whilst the reins of government were in the hands of St. Pulcheria.
Theodosius was twenty years old when it was thought proper for him to marry, and by the advice of Pulcheria, he decided upon Athenais,
the daughter of an Athenian philosopher, who had given her an excellent education, but had disinherited her. She came to court to procure that his
will should be made void on that account, and by her beauty, genius, and uncommon accomplishments, raised the admiration of everyone,
insomuch that the Emperor judged her most worthy to be his consort. She was first baptized, for she had been brought up in idolatry.
Her name Athenais – being derived from Athena or Minerva – she changed to Eudocia. Theodosius was married to her on June 7, 421.
Two years later, he declared her Augusta. This marriage made no alteration in the state, the chief administration being still entrusted to
St. Pulcheria – until the eunuch Chrysaphius, a great favorite of the Emperor, turned Eudocia against her, for Eudocia had long been mortified
at the great sway her sister-in-law had in the government.
In 431 Nestorius was condemned by the Council of Ephesus. Chrysaphius and Eudocia were indefatigable in their intrigues and practices
to ruin St. Pulcheria (by falsely intimating that she was pro-Nestorian); and the Emperor (whose misfortune was supine indolence and weakness of understanding),
after having long been deaf to their insinuations, at length was so far worked upon as to give heartily into all that they said against her.
Upon their suggestion he sent an order to St. Flavian, Bishop of Constantinople, to make her a deaconess of his church. (In these early centuries,
especially in the East, deaconesses were made use of particularly to catechize and assist at the Baptisms of women. They were appointed to this work with a solemn ceremony,
but not ordained.) The good Prelate waited on the Emperor, and urged cogent reasons against the proposal. Finding the Emperor resolutely bent on the thing,
he went home, promising to return to the court at an appointed time. However he first sent a private message to St. Pulcheria, desiring her to take care to be out of the way.
The princess understood by this hint the contrivance of her enemies, and retired to a country seat in the plains of Hebdomon (a coastal suburb of Constantinople),
with a resolution to spend the remainder of her days in silence and holy retirement. This happened in the year 447.
The consequences of this removal were most unhappy to the Emperor, the state, and the Church; for the eunuch and Eudocia, out of revenge,
persecuted St. Flavian, and patronized Eutyches the heresiarch, whom he had condemned. They also supported Dioscorus and the other Eutychians in the most
outrageous acts of fury and violence at the false Second Council of Ephesus
in 449. Theodosius himself was prevailed upon to blindly publish an edict
declaring an approbation of these proceedings and of this false council, which has since been called by Catholic historians, the Latrocinale (the Robber Council).
St. Pulcheria looked upon her retreat as a favor of Heaven, and in it she consecrated all her time to God in prayer, contemplation,
and the exercise of good works. She made no complaints of her brother's ingratitude, of the Empress who owed everything to her, or of their unjust ministers.
Her desire was both to forget the world and to be forgotten by it, esteeming herself most happy in having no other business on her hands than that of conversing
with God and meditating on divine truths. Nothing could have drawn her from the pleasure she enjoyed in this sweet solitude but the dangers which threatened
the church and state, and compassion for her brother, whose credulity was so basely abused. Seeing at length impiety and malice carried to the highest pitch,
and pressed by the letters of Pope St. Leo the Great, she boldly went to the court. Having procured admittance, she spoke in such a manner to the Emperor
that upon the spot he opened his eyes, saw the brink of the precipice to which he had been pushed by devious persons, disgraced Chrysaphius,
banished him to an island, and caused him to be there put to death. The Emperor was thus happily disabused of his errors a little before his own death,
which happened on July 29, 450, the forty-ninth of his age, and forty-first of his reign. His widow Eudocia retired to Palestine, where she ended her days.
She is said to have been reconciled to St. Pulcheria and to have died a holy death.
St. Pulcheria, after the death of her brother, remained mistress of the Empire. To strengthen her authority she chose a partner in the throne –
an excellent general, a wise statesman, very zealous for the Catholic Faith, exceedingly virtuous and particularly charitable to the poor. His name was Marcian;
he was a native of Illyricum and a widower. By a former marriage he had a daughter named Euphemia, who married Anthemius – afterwards Emperor of the West.
St. Pulcheria, judging it might be of great advantage to the state, and would enhance Marcian's credit and authority, proposed to marry him,
on condition that she should be at full liberty to preserve her vow of virginity. Marcian readily embraced the proposal; and these two great souls
governed together like two friends who had in all things the same views and sentiments, which all centered in the advancement of religion, piety, and the public welfare.
They received favorably, and with great joy, four legates sent by Pope St. Leo the Great to Constantinople, and their zeal for the Catholic Faith deserved the highest
commendations of that Pope, and of the General Council of Chalcedon (image above), which, under their protection, condemned the Eutychian heresy in 451.
They did their utmost to have the decrees of that Council executed over all the East, but met with great difficulty in Egypt and Palestine,
from the obstinacy of the Eutychians in those parts. St. Pulcheria herself wrote two letters, one to certain monks, another to an abbess of nuns, in Palestine,
to convince them that the Council of Chalcedon did not revive Nestorianism, but condemned that error together with the opposite heresy of Eutyches
(which proposed only one nature in Christ – the divine and the human somehow blended together).
This great Empress built many churches, among these three in honor of the Blessed Virgin, namely the Chalcoprateia in which was preserved the girdle of Our Lady;
in the Blachernae, some bands that had been wrapped around Her sacred body at Her entombment, and a picture, often borne before the emperors in processions of triumph;
and in the Hodegon Monastery, another yet more celebrated picture, which was said to have been painted by Saint Luke, and which had been sent to St. Pulcheria
from Jerusalem by her sister-in-law, the Empress Eudocia. It received the title of the Hodegetria, and the custom became established for the Greek emperor
to come here before setting out on any military expedition, in order to take leave of Our Lady and ask Her blessing. In sieges the Hodegetria was often carried
to the walls and deposited in those quarters most exposed to danger, and solemn thanksgivings for any prosperous event were generally offered in this sanctuary.
Unfortunately the original Hodegetria has been lost, but it was believed to have shown Our Lady standing full length (like the relief in copper copied from the famous original
– see image left).
St. John Damascene, in one of his homilies, informs us that on the occasion of the Council of Chalcedon in 451, St. Pulcheria applied
to the prelates there assembled, and particularly to Bishop Juvenal of Jerusalem, for relics of the Blessed Virgin Mary which she could deposit in these churches.
Juvenal in his reply declared that it was the true and constant tradition of the Church that He Who had been pleased to take flesh of Mary without prejudice to Her
virginity was pleased also after the death of that beloved Mother, to preserve Her immaculate body free from all corruption and to transport it to Heaven
(and therefore there were no relics of Her body).
Historians assure us that volumes would be required to sum up all the churches, monasteries, and especially hospitals which
St. Pulcheria founded and richly endowed. After dispatching public affairs her whole employment was to pray and read good books,
as well as visit and serve the poor with her own hands. Sozomen relates that she was admonished by several visions to procure a solemn translation
to be made of a considerable part of the relics of the Forty Holy Martyrs, which she enclosed in a magnificent shrine. That historian,
who was an eye-witness to this ceremony, makes mention of the extraordinary devotion with which the faithful applied cloths and handkerchiefs to these relics.
Having been all her life the protectress of the Church and the tender mother of the poor, this good Empress at her death gave to these latter,
by her will, all her goods and private estates, which were very considerable in different parts of the Empire. If we consider her great actions and her
heroic virtues, we shall be persuaded that the great commendation which St. Proclus in his panegyric on her, as well as those which St. Leo and the General
Council of Chalcedon bestowed on this Empress, were so far from being compliments or strains of eloquence, as to fall short of her extraordinary merit,
which no words can sufficiently celebrate. A little before her death she had finished the court of the Church of St. Laurence, in her own palace,
which was of most excellent workmanship. She passed from a temporal to an eternal crown in 453, on September 10, being sixty-eight and some months old.
Marcian punctually executed her will in favor of the poor, and being enriched with the treasure of his devotion (which was almost boundless in charities and good works),
followed her to immortal bliss on January 26, 457, at the age of sixty-five, having reigned six and a half years. His memory is blessed for his virtues
and for the great services he did for religion. Leo, a native of Thrace, was chosen his successor in the Empire. Both the Latin and Greek Church celebrate
the feast of St. Pulcheria as that of a holy virgin. The learned Pope Benedict XIV expressed a singular veneration for her memory.
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