Nonna of Nazianzus explained

Honorific Prefix:Saint
Nonna of Nazianzus
Birth Date:c. 305
Death Date:c. 374
Feast Day:5 August
Venerated In:Roman Catholic Church
Eastern Orthodox Church
Birth Place:Nazianzus, Cappadocia
(modern-day Nenizi, Aksaray, Turkey)
Titles:Matron
Patronage:death of children, information services[1]

Saint Nonna of Nazianzus (Greek, Modern (1453-);: Νόννα) was the wife of Gregory of Nazianzus the Elder, and the mother of Gregory the Theologian, Caesarius, and Gorgonia. She lived in Cappadocia, a province of the Roman Empire in present-day central Turkey.

Life

After Nonna married, she converted her husband Gregory to Christianity. He had been a member of the Hypsistarians, a Jewish-pagan sect that worshipped Hypsistos, the "Most High" God. She was the mother of three children, each of whom became saints, the most notable of which being Gregory of Nazianzus. She outlived her husband and two of her children, dying in 374.[2]

Her son Gregory tells of an occasion in 351 when Nonna fell sick with a severe illness and appeared to be at the point of death. On his way to visit a friend, Gregory hurried instead to his mother who, in the meantime, had begun to recover. She had a vision in which Gregory had given her miraculous cakes marked with the sign of the cross, and blessed by him.[3]

Gregory championed Nonna as a model of Christian motherhood. He wrote of her,

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Clark . Cat . Saint Nonna, Patron of Information Services . Catholics United for the Faith . 1998-11-05 . 2007-05-06 . https://web.archive.org/web/20070927035557/http://www.cuf.org/FileDownloads/stnonna.pdf . 2007-09-27 . dead .
  2. Web site: Jones . Terry . Nonna . Patron Saints Index . 2007-05-06 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20070322035109/http://www.catholic-forum.com/SAINTS/saintn21.htm . 2007-03-22 .
  3. Book: Dunbar, Agnes . A Dictionary of Saintly Women . George Bell & Sons . 1904 . 108–109 . saint nonna..