St Pelagia the Penitent

I came across the story of St Pelagia the Penitent the other day. Pelagia was a dancer and actress who lived in Antioch in the second half of the fifth century AD. She was an actress and a dancer who had many lovers, expensive jewels and a large entourage. All writers agreed that Pelagia was a very beautiful woman who lived a dissolute life in decadent Antioch. At the height of her popularity, she and some friends passed by the Basilica of St. Julian in Antioch where Bishop Nonnus was preaching. Pelagia was reclining in a litter and was provocatively dressed; her head and shoulders were uncovered at a time when women were to be veiled in public.The group of bishops who were gathered outside were shocked by the sight of her and turned away, except for Bishop Nonnus who looked at her for a long time. Bishop Nonnus then turned to the other bishops and asked, "Did not the sight of her great beauty delight you?"When Bishop Nonnus spoke in the basilica the next day, Pelagia was there. The people were surprised to see her because she was not a Christian. Apparently the bishop's words stirred Pelagia to reconsider how she was living her life. She met with the bishop soon after and asked to be baptised saying that her father and mother named her Pelagia but the people of Antioch called her Margarita, which means pearl, for she was the devil's jewel.Bishop Nonnus found a woman to act as her godmother and then exorcised and baptised her. A few days later Pelagia arranged to give all her wealth and possessions to the bishop. He handed all over to the treasurer of the church in Antioch, telling him to use it for widows and orphans, not for the church, because it was tainted money.Soon after Pelagia's conversion and baptism she left Antioch and was not seen there again. She withdrew to a cave in Jerusalem near the Mount of Olives where she dressed in men's clothing and lived an austere life. She was known as Pelagius, "the beardless monk" and her sex was not discovered until after her death.While the people in Jerusalem might have known about the hermit living nearby, they didn't know that the monk was the famous Pelagia of Antioch. Apparently Bishop Nonnus knew where she had gone. Some three or four years later, he sent James the Deacon on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem to see "Brother Pelagius."James reported that when he found the little cell and knocked on the shutter, the monk opened it. The monk knew James but James did not recognise her. When he told the monk he came from Bishop Nonnus, the monk Pelagius asked him to pray for her, "For he is a saint of God." When James returned to the cell some days later, he received no answer to his knock. When he opened the shutter, he found Pelagius dead. It was when they were anointing the body for burial that they found that she was a woman.