St. Olga

St. Olga (born c. 890—died 969, Kyiv; feast day July 11) was the princess who was the first recorded female ruler of the Rus and the first member of the ruling family of Kyivan Rus to adopt Christianity. She was canonized as the first Kyivan saint of the Orthodox Church and is the patron saint of widows and converts.

Olga was the widow of Igor I, prince of Kyiv, who was assassinated in 945 by his subjects while attempting to extort excessive tribute. Because Igor’s son Svyatoslav was still a minor, Olga became regent of the grand principality of Kyiv from 945 to 964. She soon had Igor’s murderers scalded to death and hundreds of members of their Slavic tribe killed. Olga then became the first of the princely Kyivans to adopt Orthodox Christianity. She was probably baptized about 957 at Constantinople (now Istanbul), then the most powerful patriarchate. Her efforts to bring Christianity to Kyiv were resisted by her son but continued by her grandson, the grand prince St. Vladimir (died 1015); together they mark the transition between paganism and Christianity in Kyivan Rus.