Pudens
Life and witness
There also, of St. Pudens, a senator, father to the said virgin, who being clothed with Christ in baptism by the apostles, preserved his innocent garment unspotted until he received the crown of life.
The Lives Of The Saints: Volume 05, May · SS. PUDENS AND PUDENTIANA.
SS. PUDENS AND PUDENTIANA.
(2ND CENT.)
[Roman Martyrology. Mentioned in the Sacramentary of Pope Gela- sius. S. Pudens her father also in the Roman Martyrology, and in that of Usuardus, Ado, Bellinus and Maurolycus. S. Praxedis, the sister of S. Pudentiana, is commemorated on July 21st. Authority : — The Acts, which purport to be written by S. Pastor (July 27th), a contemporary. But their authenticity is very questionable.]
AINT PUDENS was a Roman senator, who had the honour of receiving S. Peter into his house, when the prince of the Apostles came to Rome. He was probably converted by S. Paul, for that Apostle mentions him as his disciple in his second Epistle to S. Timothy. He died in the inno- cence of his baptismal condition, and left behind him two daughters, Praxedis and Pudentiana. These saintly virgins gave great alms to the poor, and their palace was used for the celebration of the Divine Mysteries. S. Pudentiana is said to have died a martyr’s death in the year 160,1 but this is hardly possible, and it is more probable that there were two saints of the same name, and that a similar confusion has been made in her case to that which exists
1 The Acts by S. Pastor say nothing about her dying by martyrdom, but simply state that she died at the age of sixteen. Consequently the Pudentiana who died in 160 must have been another.
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Biographical overview
Pudens is a Roman cognomen meaning "modest", borne by a number of individuals, including: Aulus Pudens, a centurion and friend of the poet Martial Saint Pudens, an early Roman Christian mentioned in 2 Timothy in the New Testament Lucius Arrius Pudens, consul in 165 Quintus Servilius Pudens, consul in 166 Gaius Valerius Pudens, a Roman general of the 3rd century
Martyrologium Romanum · Latin witness
Romae sanctae Pudentianae Virginis, quae, post innumeros agones, post multorum Martyrum venerabiliter exhibitas sepulturas, post omnes facultates suas pro Christo pauperibus erogatas, tandem de terris ad caelos migravit. Ibidem sancti Pudentis Senatoris, qui ejusdem sanctae Pudentianae ac sanctae item Praxedis Virginis fuit pater; atque, ab Apostolis Christo in baptismo vestitus, innocentem tunicam usque ad vitae coronam immaculate custodivit.