persuaded him to return. Pope Benedict IX. approved of the step, and absolved him from his monastic and clerical vows. Casimir kissed every one of the monks and begged them all to pray for him and his kingdom. He went back to Poland, and was set on the throne in his habit and cowl. The courtiers shaved their heads in compliment to him; and the shaven crown came to be the height of fashion and sign of nobility. He drove out the Pomeranians, Prussians, and all heathen invaders. He married Mary Dobrogneva, a good and pious woman, daughter of St. Vladimir sister of Yaroslav, grand-prince of Russia, and perhaps grand-aunt of St. Margaret of Scotland. (See St. Anna (14).) Casimir was surnamed the Pacific. He died in 1058, and was succeeded by his son Boleslaus II.
Meantime, Rixa seems to have found her chief solace in a religious life and in the society of her brother. She declined to return with her son, but gave him all the jewels that ought to belong to him, and begged the Emperor Henry III. to restore to him the crowns which she had given into the keeping of his father Conrad II.; and he did so. Rixa nearly died of grief for the death of her brother Otto, count palatine, and duke of Suabia, which occurred in the same year as her son's restoration. She offered all her jewels and golden ornaments on the altar, and took the veil from the hands of Bruno, bishop of Toul, afterwards Pope Leo IX., and she charged all her friends and dependents to bury her beside her brother. Her remaining brother Herman, archbishop of Cologne, died in 1056, and was succeeded by Anno.
Rixa gave immense estates to the Church, subject to her use of them during her life. The monastery of Brauwiller, founded by her parents, was completed in 1061, and endowed by her with the lands of Clotten and other great estates. She built another monastery near Wurtzburg, on the spot consecrated by the martyrdom of St. Kilian and his companions, and at the same time she gave the lands of Soltz in Henneberg, to the bishop of Wurtzburg.
She died at Salevelt and was buried, according to her wish, in the church of St. Mary ad Gradus, at Cologne. She was represented on her tomb by the side of her brother, the archbishop, both wearing halos like saints, and in one of the windows of the church she is pictured between two of its tutelary saints, her uncle Anno and Agilulph, and is called in the inscription, Sancta Richeza, and her body is exhibited for veneration on certain great festivals.
Ferrarius, Molanus and Cratepol call her Saint, but the Bollandists do not. No miracles are recorded of her.
Besides her son Casimir, Rixa had a son Boleslaus, who died in childhood, and two daughters, one of whom, Risa, married Bela, brother of Andrew I. of Hungary, and was the mother of St. Ladislaus, king of Hungary.
Palacky, Gesch. von Böhmen. Karamsin. Hist. de Russie, Salvandy, Hist. de Pologne, Dunham, Hist. of Poland. An account by a monk of Brauwiller, in Leibnitz Scriptores. Kalixt Wolski, Poland, her Glories, etc.
St. Roa or Aroa, July 5, M. at Cyrene, in Libya. (See Cyprilla.)
St. Rodafia, Rodalia, Rodapia, Rodasia, Rodesia, Rodinia, Rodofia, Rodolia, Rodopia, or Rosodia, July 5, M. at Tomis. AA.SS. (See Merona.)
St. Rodena, Sept 22, V. 1st cent. Honoured with SS. Silvanus and Silvester, who were sent from Rome by St Peter to preach in Gaul. Silvester died at Bethany, a short distance from Rome. Silvanus buried him, and being uncertain whether he ought to proceed alone on his mission, he returned to the blessed apostle for further instructions. St. Peter seeing how sad he was for the loss of his companion, gave him his pastoral staff, bidding him touch Silvester with it and tell him, in the name of Christ, to arise. This being done, the two missionaries went on their way. One night they came to a house where they were kindly received by a heathen and entertained for the night. The man had a daughter Rodena, betrothed to a young nobleman called Corusculus. When she heard that her guests were Christians, she was inspired with a wish to know more about them and their God. She
