Nonna de Nazianze
v. 305-374 4th century Feast day: August 5
The prayer of a mother who forces no one; a household constancy more effective than argument.
Who was Nonna de Nazianze?
A Cappadocian married to a man from a sect that prayed neither as Jews nor as Christians, she spent years bringing him round without hounding him; he ended up bishop of the town. She had promised to God the son she was asking for before she even carried him: this was Gregory of Nazianzus, who would later describe how she stood in church and how she prayed. She died in 374, a few months after her husband, in that same church where she spent her mornings.
In their own words
It was on her part a great undertaking to promise me to God before my birth, with no fear of the future, and to dedicate me immediately after I was born.
What time or place for prayer ever escaped her? To this she was drawn before all other things in the day.
She reverenced the sanctuary by her silence.