Saint Lydia

Lydia appears in the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 16. She came from Thyatira, a city in Asia Minor famous for its dyes, and worked in Philippi as a seller of purple cloth, an expensive product worn by the wealthy. She was a Gentile who worshiped the God of Israel, and on the Sabbath she gathered with other women to pray by the river outside the city.

There, around the year 50, she listened to Paul, Silas and their companions, and Acts says that the Lord opened her heart. She was baptized together with her household, becoming the first person recorded to receive baptism in Europe. She then insisted that the missionaries stay in her home, and after Paul and Silas were released from prison they returned to her house to encourage the believers. Her home became the meeting place of the young church of Philippi, the community Paul later wrote to with such affection. The Roman Martyrology remembers her on August 3.

Lydia is especially loved by women who work in business, by catechumens preparing for baptism and by those who practice hospitality. In Philippi, Greece, a baptistery stands by the river where tradition places her baptism.

Many women's guilds and Bible study groups are named after her.