St. Praxedes

 Having recently visited Rome and prayed and the tombs and shrines of many Saints there, I have decided this year to feature many of the Saints that I met there.

My first offering is a new one for me - a Saint that I had not heard of before. 

St. Praxedes, called "a Roman Maiden", lived in the Roman Empire in the second (2nd) century. She was the daughter of St. Pudens and the sister of St. Pudentiana (three for the price of one!). Pudens was a Roman Senator who was converted to Christianity by St.Peter and also knew St. Paul (2Tim 4:21). As was typical in the early years of the Church, when Pudens was converted, so was his whole family, including his daughters Praxedes and Pudentiana. 

At the death of their father, the two young girls inherited the family fortune, which they used to care for the poor. During a period of persecution, Praxedes and Pudentiana cared for, encouraged, financially supported and comforted the persecuted Christians. They also hid many Christians in their home, ministered to them in prison and buried the bodies of the martyrs. 

The sisters died in 165 when Praxedes was 16 years old. The details of their deaths have not survived, but they were venerated as martyrs as early as the fourth (4th) century. St. Praxedes is depicted in art collecting the blood of the martyrs with a sponge and squeezing it into a vessel, as seen in the statue that can be found in her basilica in Rome. Her feast day is July 21.