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Pulcheria, Aelia

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one of the most celebrated saints of the Greek Church, was an empress. She was the eldest daughter of the emperor Arcadius, and was born between 398 and 400. In early youth she showed rare intellectual gifts and a fervent piety. Her wisdom was an object of general admiration. She was about fifteen when she came to assist her younger brother Theodoa sius II in the government. Pulcheria then made a vow of eternal chastity, prevailed upon her sisters to follow her example, and gave to the Byzantine court the puritv which should prevail in a monastery. Some writers charge that this chastity was feigned from political reasons, Pulcheria desiring to prevent the marriage of her sisters, and thus avoid controversy on the claims to the throne. By her wisdom and piety the prosperity of the empire was certainly promoted: she seemed to be its good genius. She defended zealously the purity of the Christian faith against the doctrines of Nestorius and Eutyches, and her influence was most beneficial at the synods of Ephesus and Chalcedon. St. Cyril of Alexandria sent her his celebrated work De Fide ad Pulcheriam. She was in correspondence with the popes, especially with Leo I. This great pope, in many letters, praises her wisdom and kindness. He entreats her, in 449, to take measures against the heresy of Eutyches (Jaffe, Reg. Pontif. n. 203, 204, p. 37); rejoices at the vigor and energy of her faith (ibid. n. 226, p. 339), and praises her activity in suppressing Eutychianism (451; ibid. n. 237, p. 40). There are in all ten letters extant from Leo I to Pulcheria. The learned Theodoret, bishop of Cyrrhus, also praised her attachment to the Church, and interceded with her for his city, heavily burdened with taxes (Theod. Ep. 43; Baron. ad ann. 444). All her contemporaries praise her beneficent influence. She dissuaded her brother Theodosius from Nestorianism, and celebrated the victory of the orthodox creed over this heresy by building a splendid church in honor of the Virgin Mary (Niceph. IL E. 14:2; Baron. ad ann. 431).

She sent valuable presents to Jerusalem, and built a number of new churches (Baron. ad ann. 439, 453). She was several times exposed to the plots of the courts, which tried to destroy her good understanding with her brother and his wife Eudocia. In 446 she retired entirely from the court: but her absence was soon felt. After the death of Theodosius, Pulcheria and Marcianus, who had been honored with the title of Augustus, and whom she had wedded, took the reins of the empire. She had married for the good of the empire, and with the stipulation that she should be allowed to keep her vow of virginity. After benefiting the Church in many ways as empress, and opposing Eutychianism with the same decision as she had previously Nestorianism, she died, Sept. 11, 453. Her saintship is recognised by the Latin as well as by the Greek Church. Baronius (ad ann. 453) and the Bollandists (vol. i, Jul.) erected literary memorials to her memory. Benedict XIV permitted, by decree of the Congregation of the Rites of Jan. 31, 1752, to the regular canons of St. Augustine in Portugal, and to some houses of Jesuits, the celebration of her feast on July 7, sub ritu duplici: soon afterwards, Feb. 11, the same year, this permission was extended to the whole company of Jesus. These decrees, with the office and mass of St. Pulcheria, are in the appendix of Benedict XIV's work De Sanctorum Canonizatione. The oration of the feast praises the chastity of the saint, and her zeal for the purity of the faith. See Smith, Dict. of Gr. and Rom. Biog. and Mythol. s.v.; Wetzer u. Welte Kirchen-Lexikon, vol. 12 s.v.; Hefele, Conciliengesch. vol. ii; Alzog, Kirchengesch. i, 309; Milman, Hist. of Latin Christianity, ii, 243 sq.