Venerable Pelagia the Penitent

Pelagia was a celebrated actress and dancer of Antioch in the 5th century. The story, written by a deacon named James, tells that a bishop called Nonnus saw her pass in the street, covered in jewels, and wept that he took less care of his soul than she of her beauty.

She later heard him preach, asked for baptism and gave her wealth to the poor. Then she left the city in a man's clothing and lived as the hermit “Pelagius” in a cell on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. That she was a woman was discovered only after her death, c. 457.