Aelia Eudocia
Greek Eastern Roman Empress by marriage to Byzantine emperor Theodosius II (c.401-460)
Feast: 13 August (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Who they were
Athenais, daughter of Leontius, one of the last pagan teachers of rhetoric at Athens, came to Constantinople to dispute her father's will and was noticed by Pulcheria, sister of Emperor Theodosius II. Instructed in the faith and baptised Eudocia by the Patriarch Atticus, she married Theodosius on 7 June 421.
She became Empress and died about 460.
The miracles
There was never a formal cause: she has been honoured as a saint since before the Church's formal processes began.
Why that counted as sanctity
A pagan philosopher's daughter who became a Christian empress.
- Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), via New Advent - Ælia Eudocia
- Wikidata Q229307 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Aelia Eudocia (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.