Mary

Saint Mary of Edessa was a Christian anchorite of the fourth century, niece of Venerable Abraham Kidunaia. She is commemorated on 29 October in the Latin calendar (new style); in 1961 part of the Catholic Church questioned her historicity. According to the narrative, she was born at the beginning of the fourth century into a noble family of Edessa in Syria. Her parents died when she was seven, and her uncle Abraham took her in; she devoted herself to a life of contemplation.

For twenty years she lived as an anchorite, following her uncle's counsel. A false monk who had come to visit Father Abraham met her and seduced her, and she broke her vows. Seized by despair, she fled the desert and lived in a house of ill repute. Abraham, who had allegorical visions (a dragon devouring a white dove, then the same dragon with its entrails opened, from which the dove came forth unharmed), understood what had happened. Disguised as a soldier, he went to her and wept and pleaded with her to return. Moved by his love, Mary went back to her hermitage and began a life of repentance and asceticism. After three years God accepted her true conversion and gave her the gift of miracles. She reposed in 361, five years before her uncle. The main source is the Life attributed to Saint Ephrem the Syrian; researchers have no other secure sources.