house of Saxony. Slawnick and Strzezislawa had six sons, of whom five at least were martyrs. The most famous was Woytesch or Wojtjch, afterwards called Adalbert. He was the second bishop of Prague, succeeding Ditmar in 982. He was most earnest in teaching and spreading the Christian religion in his own country and in Poland and Hungary, and was for some years a monk in Italy. After his return to Bohemia, he was murdered by heathens, and is accounted a martyr. One of his brothers, Radim, was devoted to him and was perhaps killed with him in 997; the other four were besieged in their ancestral castle of Libic, by the Wrsowces, and being driven at last to take refuge in the church, were murdered before the altar. Palacky. Chanowski, Vestigia, II. 42.
St. Publia (1), Jan. 27, M. in Africa. AA.SS.
St. Publia (2) or Poplia, Oct. 9. c. 362. Mother of John, a holy priest of Antioch. In her widowhood, she was a deaconess of the church of Antioch, and had the care of several younger women. They used to sing psalms, and one day as the Emperor Julian was passing by, they sang, "The idols of the heathen are silver and gold." As the emperor ordered them to be silent, Publia sang the same verse over again louder. He sent for her and as she still sang, he ordered his soldiers to strike her on the mouth; whereupon she reviled him for his cruelty, and went home and there continued her singing.
R.M. Menology of Basil, AA.SS. Baillet, from Theodoret's History of the Church. Le Beau, III. 19.
St. Pudentella, Porentella.
St. Pudentiana (1) or Potentiana, May 19, July 21, V. One of the patrons of Rome. Sister of St. Praxedis. Pudentiana died first and was buried beside her father Pudens, in the cemetery of Priscilla. She has a church in Rome, with very ancient mosaics representing the two sisters offering crowns to SS. Peter and Paul. R.M.
B. Pudentiana (2) Zagnoni, Feb. 14, V. 1603. O.S.F. in Bologna. She one day put on a silver ring in obedience to her mother; then took it off and threw it away. Next day, when praying, shut up in her little room, an angel came and gave it back to her. Her life was written by John Andreas Bota. Prayer Book, 3rd O.S.F. Bagatta, Admiranda.
SS. Puelles, Oct. 17, 2nd or 3rd century. A place in the diocese of Carcassonne is called Mas-Saintes-Puelles (Mansus Sanctarum Puellarum), five miles from Recand. When St. Saturninus, first bishop of Toulouse, was martyred by being tied to a bull, none of the few Christians in the city dared to bury him, except two young girls whose names are not preserved. They were seized by the heathen persecutors, put in prison, scourged, insulted, and cast out of the city. They fled to Recand and remained there for the rest of their lives. AA.SS.
Mas Latrie says the date was about 260, and the place was Castelnaudry, which was afterwards more famous as the birthplace of St. Peter of Nolasca, founder of the Order of St Mary for the Redemption of Captives.
St. Pulcheria, Chérie or Pulquérie, V. Sept. 10, July 7, 399-453. Empress of the East.
As a great promoter of the worship of the Blessed Virgin Mart, she is represented in imperial robes, holding in one hand a lily, in the other a tablet bearing the word ΘΕΟΤΟΚΟϹ (Theotokos, Mother of God), or in a group with her two young sisters. Her noble face is still to be seen on coins.
She was granddaughter of Theodosius the Great; daughter of Arcadius (395-408), her mother being Endoxia, a Frank; sister of Theodosius II. (408-450); and wife of Marcian (450-457.)
Ælia Pulcheria was the eldest child of her parents, and when her father died in 408, she had already shown so much virtue and ability that, although only sixteen, she was at once invested with the title of Augusta, and became the guardian and spokeswoman of her brother Theodosius II., who was two years her junior and was weak and indolent although amiable.
Foreseeing the troublesome complications that were sure to arise if marriage with herself or either of her sisters
