Description

Oil Dedicated to St Olga of Kyiv (Patron for Converts)

St Olga of Kyiv (Patron for Converts) from A Blessed Call To Love, Ireland.

Saint Olga of Kyiv, also known as Olga Prekrasa (Olga the Beautiful) was a regent of Kievan Rus’ for her son, Sviatoslav, from 945 until 960. She’s known for her efforts to spread Christianity throughout the region, and for this, she’s revered as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church, with a feast day on July 11th. In 2020, the Catholic Church also declared her a saint, with Pope Francis designating her as the patron saint of converts.

She the wife of Igor of Kyiv, who killed by the Drevlians, a tribe that he ruled. After his death, Olga ruled Kievan Rus as a regent on behalf of their son, Sviatoslav.

Her most significant achievement was her conversion to Christianity, which occurred either in 955 or 957. Olga was the first ruler of Rus to convert to Christianity, in either Constantinople or Germany. The details surrounding her conversion remain a matter of controversy among historians. Her conversion influenced her grandson, Vladimir the Great, who officially adopted Christianity as the state religion of Kievan Rus.

After her death, Olga canonized as the first Russian saint of the Orthodox Church, credited with establishing foundations for the introduction of Christianity in the Rus. Her role as a Christianizer and her receptiveness to the Western church set the stage for the Christianization of the Kievan Rus, a major historical event for the Eastern Slavic people.

However, while Olga recognized as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church, her sainthood in the Roman Catholic Church is a recent development, hence her designation as a patron saint for converts.