Saint of the Day – 9 December – St Gorgonia (Died c370) Married, Mother, Sister of St Gregory Nazianzen and St Caesarius, daughter of Saint Gregory the Elder and Saint Nonna. Born in Nazianzen in modern Turkey and probably died there in c370 of natural causes.
The Roman Martyrology reads today: “At Nazianzen, St Gorgonia, sister of the blessed Gregory the Theologian, who has related her vitues and miralces.”
That which we know of Gorgonia is best found in the funeral oration which her brother dedicated to her. She was given in marriage at a young age to a citizen of Iconium, called Alypius, by whom she had two sons and three daughters; one of these, Alypiana, appears in Gregory’s Will, who excluded the others whose conduct was reprehensible.
It seems that Gorgonia was Baptised shortly before her marriage; it is certain that St. Gregory attributes to her glory, the fact that she led her husband and children to Baptism.
She died around 370, after her brother St Caesarius and before their parents, as St Gregory says in one of his poems.
The cult paid to Gorgonia is quite ancient, since Nicephorus Callistus says in the 14th Century that it was fully justified by her virtues.
AnaStpaul 