Page:A Dictionary of Saintly Women Volume 2.djvu/154

142 ST. PELAGIA She wrote a letter, addressed ^'to Nonnns the holy servant of God from Pelagia the servant of the devil/' beseeching the venerable bishop to receive her into the fold of his Master. He answered as- suring her that Christ would receive all penitent sinners, but referring her to the local clergy, as much more worthy in- struments for her conversion than him- self. But she would not be handed over to any one else. Determined to speak to him, whose words had touched her heart, she went to the church of St. Julian and begged that ho would see her. He woald not receive her alone; he sent for all the other bishops and she had to wait outside the door until they arrived. As soon as she was admitted, she threw herself at his feet. In her agony of contrition, she wanted to insist on being baptized on the spot : the bishops thought it necessary to have further proof of the reality of the conversion of so notorious an evil-doer ; but she would not be sent away. She knew it was illegal to con- vert her, and she dreaded to lose the plank at which her drowning soul had caught. In her cloth of gold, with her bare neck and her bejewelled shoes, she lay on her face, weeping and sobbing on the pavement of the church, holding the aged saint by the feet and adjuring him by the God Whom he served, not to let the devil recover possession of her, and telling him that he should not have his place in the kingdom of heaven, unless he saved her too. The bishops so far yielded to her importunity as to send for the deaconess Eomana, whose o£5ce included the duty of preparing women for baptism and assisting them to find an honest living. Scarcely would the penitent rise from the ground or loose her hold ot the bishop's feet, until at last they made her understand that this preparation was the only condition on which she could be received into the Christian Church. Then she went meekly away with her new friend, who had had the care of many a convert and catechumen, but had never before seen an actress in the zenith of her triumphs present herself as a penitent. Romana advised her to break with her old courses by giving up all the gains they had brought her. Accordingly, she liberated all her slaves, presenting them with the gold necklaces they had worn in her service and exhorting them to follow her example. She then summoned her steward and bade him bring all her money, jewels and finery, and lay them at the feet of Nonnus. He would not have the proceeds of iniquity used to maintain or adorn the House of God, but gave them to the priests, whose guest he was, with the stipulation that they should not once attempt to min- ister in their own church, until the last farthing and the last spangle had been disposed of, for the benefit of lepers and other destitute sufferers. All this time was not allowed .to pass away in the world Pelagia had left, without remon- strances from her patrons, addressed both to herself and the clergy who were concerned in her conversion. But Pelngia had taken the turning into the narrow way and, would not look biick. Very soon she was admitted to the sac- raments, Bom an a standing godmother, answering for her that she would not return to her sinful life, and providing her with a plain white robe to be worn at her baptism and for the next seven days. At the font, the bishop asked her name, and she said, ** My re«J name is Pelagia, bui the people of Antioch call me Margaret, because of the jewels I wear." He christened her Pelagia, and immediately administered to her the rite of confirmation, and the sacrament of the Eucharist. When the baptismal week was nearly over, Pelagia arose noiselessly, by night, and went to Nonnus, who gave her, in- stead of her white robe, a cilicium and the rough brown gown and hood of a person dedicated to God in a life of seclusion and penance. Thus habited, she left Antioch for ever and went to Jerusalem. There she visited the holy sepulchre and every spot pointed out as the scene of an incident in the life of the Lord Jesus, devoutly offering her broken heart to Him Who demands the whole, yet will accept it in fragments. Then, with her unpractised hands, she built herself a little hermitage on the mount of Olives, and there, in prayer and