Saint Praxedes, Virgin - July 21st

[00:00:05]July 21st, Saint Praxedes, Virgin. Today's Saint's story is short, but touching, as it shows the charity of an early first-century Christian saint.

[00:00:18]Saint Praxedes was the daughter of a Roman senator, Pudens, who was a Christian and is mentioned in one of Saint Paul's letters to Timothy. She was also the sister of Saint Pudentiana, who helped Saint Praxedes in her endeavors.

[00:00:35]Saint Praxedes is said to have been a disciple of Saint Paul. During the persecution of Christians by Emperor Marcus Antonius in the first century, Saint Praxedes helped the persecuted Christians by hiding many of them in her home. She also encouraged others to keep firm in the faith. She was well-known for her loving care for the mutilated bodies of those martyred for the faith.

[00:00:58]She is said to have also built a baptistery inside her father's house in order to baptize pagan converts. At last, being unable any longer to bear the cruelties inflicted on Christians, she prayed to God that if it were expedient for her to die, she might be released from beholding such sufferings any longer. And so, on July 21st, at the age of just 16, she was called to her reward in heaven. Her body was laid by the priest in the tomb of her father, Pudens, and with her sister, Pudentiana, which was in the cemetery of Priscilla, along the Salarian Way. She was first venerated as a martyr in connection with the Ecclesiastica Pudentiana, but afterwards, a separate church was built in her honor on the site of her house, to which, when it was rebuilt by Pope Saint Pascal I, her relics were taken. As can be seen in the picture, the center circle in her basilica in Rome is a part of the floor in the central nave and is marked as a place where her relics were laid to rest within the building that was once her house. In the paintings by Vermeer and Frischerelli, Saint Praxedes is shown kneeling in front of an ornate twin-handled jug into which she is squeezing a sponge soaked full with the blood of a decapitated martyr. Her effigy also appears on a mosaic of the Church of Saint Praxedes in Rome. As can be seen in this painting, we see martyrs' crowns awaiting the sisters as one cleans a severed head with well water while the other sponges a martyr's body. In the distant background, two men are bringing them yet another body. In the foreground is a jar into which the sister will squeeze the blood from the sponge. So, particularly on this feast day, let us remember and pray for all persecuted Christians in every part of the world.