MIRACULOUS MIRACLES™

Saint — Nino of Georgia

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St. Nino of Georgia
c. 296 AD, Colastri, Cappadocia (a kinswoman of St. George of Lydda — per Georgian tradition) — c. 335 AD, Bodbe, Kakheti, Georgia
Equal-to-the-Apostles — Foundational Apostle of Georgia
Bodbe Monastery (Convent of St. Nino), Kakheti, Georgia, Georgia
Feast
January 14 (Georgian Orthodox); January 14 (Byzantine)
Canonized
Cult of ancient antiquity in the Georgian and Byzantine traditions
Life

Nino (Georgian Ნინო, Greek Nona, Latin Nina) was — per the foundational Georgian tradition preserved in the Conversion of Kartli of the 9th century — a young Cappadocian Christian woman of the early 4th century, a relative of St. George of Lydda (see his entry already in the catalogue) and a foster-daughter of the Patriarch of Jerusalem.

Around 313 AD, sent by a vision of the Virgin Mary, Nino set out from Jerusalem to evangelize the Kingdom of Kartli (Iberia) — the great mountain kingdom east of the Black Sea, north of Armenia, in what is now Georgia. She entered the country with the small wooden cross — made of vine-wood and bound with her own hair (the celebrated 'Cross of Nino,' which remains the foundational Christian sacred-object of Georgia, preserved at Tbilisi).

She settled at Mtskheta (the ancient capital of Kartli), where she lived for many years as a small-house-cell anchoress in a noblewoman's garden. She converted the Queen Nana of Kartli through a miraculous healing, then the King Mirian III of Kartli (the foundational Christian king of Georgia) through a parallel intervention: in 326 AD, while hunting in the forest of Mukhrani, King Mirian was suddenly engulfed in darkness; he prayed to the gods of his ancestors without effect, then to the God of Nino, who restored the light. Mirian returned to Mtskheta a Christian and proclaimed Christianity the official religion of Kartli.

Nino retired in her last years to the small hermitage at Bodbe in the eastern province of Kakheti, where she died around 335 AD. Her tomb at Bodbe — preserved at the medieval Bodbe Monastery (Convent of St. Nino) on the easternmost edge of Georgia — remains the foundational Georgian national-religious pilgrimage site. Through her work the Kingdom of Kartli became the second Christian state in world history after Armenia (which was Christianized in 301 by Gregory the Illuminator) and the second-oldest continuously-Christian nation. Her cult — universally observed across Georgian, Byzantine, and broader Eastern traditions — has been at the centre of Georgian national identity for over 1,600 years.

Miracles & Phenomena

  • The healing of Queen Nana

    Nino's healing of Queen Nana of Kartli — through prayer and the touch of her hair-bound vine-wood cross — was the foundational conversion-miracle that began the Christianization of the royal court of Kartli.

  • The lightless forest of King Mirian

    King Mirian III's experience of sudden engulfing darkness in the forest of Mukhrani while hunting — and his restoration to light through prayer to the God of Nino — was the foundational miracle of his conversion to Christianity and of the formal Christianization of the Kingdom of Kartli.

  • The Cross of Nino

    The simple cross made of vine-wood and bound with Nino's own hair — given to her in vision by the Virgin Mary before her mission to Kartli — has been preserved continuously at Tbilisi for nearly 1,700 years and is one of the most-venerated national sacred objects of any nation in the world.

Relics
  • Body
    Tomb of St. Nino
    Bodbe Monastery (Convent of St. Nino), Kakheti, Georgia

    Her tomb at the small Bodbe Monastery in eastern Georgia has been a continuous pilgrimage site for over 1,600 years. The monastery's small medieval church preserves the original tomb.

  • Object
    Cross of St. Nino
    Sioni Cathedral, Tbilisi, Georgia

    The original vine-wood-and-hair Cross of Nino is preserved at Sioni Cathedral in Tbilisi — the foundational national sacred-object of the Republic of Georgia.

Iconography
  • Nino with the vine-wood cross

    The young Cappadocian woman in long Georgian-Cappadocian dress holding aloft the small distinctively-formed vine-wood cross bound with her own hair (the 'Cross of Nino'), the Caucasus mountains behind her, the small Kartli royal palace visible in the foreground — the iconography of the foundational Apostle of Georgia.

Patronages
Georgia (principal patron — the entire Georgian national-religious identity)Catholic mission to nations without prior Christian presenceCatholic women apostlesCatholic women missionaries
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