St. Nonna was born to Christian parents in Cappadocia (in present-day Turkey). She married Gregory, a magistrate in Nazianzus, though he belonged to a non-Christian sect. As one of her sons would later write, “This was something she could not calmly bear, that the one half be conjoined with God, whilst the other part itself should remain apart from God. On the contrary, she wanted that, to the fleshly union, there should also apply a spiritual union.” Her prayers were answered when her husband converted. He went on to be ordained a priest and then a bishop, later venerated as St. Gregory Nazianzen the Elder. (There was at that time no prohibition against married clergy.) Nonna, for her part, became a deacon.
St. Nonna bore three children, all of them also venerated as saints: St. Gorgonia, who married and had three children; St. Caesarius, who became an illustrious physician; and St. Gregory Nazianzen the Younger, who became archbishop of Constantinople and went on to play a critical role in formulating the doctrine of the Trinity.
Young St. Gregory delivered a moving eulogy at his mother’s funeral, noting, “While some mothers excel in the management of their households and others excel in piety, my mother excelled at both.”
“She knew one thing to be truly noble: to be pious and to know from where we have come and where we are going; and that there is one innate and trusty wealth: to use one’s substance on God and on the poor, especially the impoverished kin.” —St. Gregory Nazianzen the Younger
