With these words, Pope St. Leo the Great paid tribute to Empress Pulcheria (399-453), grand-daughter of Theodosius. She was baptized by St. John Chrysostom in Constantinople and while still very young, she made a vow of virginity along with her two younger sisters.
Six years after her father, Arcadius, died, the Senate proclaimed her Augusta (empress), and named her regent of her younger brother Theodosius II. Pulcheria was 15 years old when she assumed the full responsibility of government. It is rare in History to find so much prudence joined with such great precocity.
At age 20, Theodosius married Athenais, daughter of a pagan philosopher of Athens. His wife, who received the name Eudoxia when she was baptized, sought to weaken Pulcheria’s influence over the Emperor. Eudoxia ended by persecuting her sister-in-law and favoring the heresy of Nestorius, while St. Pulcheria supported St. Cyril of Alexandria against the heretic. Pulcheria was removed from power and withdrew from the court.
In 441 Eudoxia was exiled because of her infidelity to the Emperor, and Pulcheria returned. Theodosius was supporting the heresy of the monk Eutyches, but Pulcheria convinced him to withdraw it and follow St. Leo the Great.
In 450 Theodosius died. Pulcheria was again proclaimed Empress. One year later the Council of Chalcedon (451) – she assisted at its third session - condemned Monophysism, the heresy of Eutyches. In a letter to the Empress Pulcheria, St. Leo credited her with overcoming the heresies of Nestorius and Euthyches.
On her return from exile, she found the Empire threatened by Attila. She agreed to marry General Marcian to maintain the stability of the Empire on the condition that he respect her vow of virginity. Together they governed the Empire. Marcian persecuted the Nestorians and followers of Eutyches, recalled the Catholic Bishops who had been exiled by Theodosius, and kept Attila outside the boundaries of the Empire. St. Pulcheria died in 453 at age 54.
