Pudens was an early Christian saint and martyr. He is mentioned as a layman of the Roman Church in 2 Timothy 4:21."Do your best to come before winter. Eubulus sends greetings to you, as do Pudens and Linus and Claudia and all the brethren." (Revised Standard Version)
Life
Born to a family of wealth and distinction, possibly of the Gens Cornelia,"Pudens", The Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature. (James Strong and John McClintock, eds.) Harper and Brothers; NY; 1880 he was the son of Quintus Cornelius Pudens, a Roman senator, and his wife Priscilla, among the first converted by Peter in Rome.Chandlery, Peter Joseph. Pilgrim Walks in Rome: A Guide to the Holy Places in the City and Its Vicinity, America Press, 1908, p.104
Pudens was baptised by Peter, who was a guest in his parents' house in Rome. A member of the Roman Senate,"Apostle Pudens of the Seventy", OCA he was the father of two sons, Novatus and Timotheus, and, according to legend, two daughters, Praxedes and Pudentiana. Pudens was martyred under Nero (reigned 54–68) and buried in the Catacomb of Priscilla on the Via Salaria.
The acts of the synod of Pope Symmachus (499) show the existence of a titulus Pudentis, a church with the authority to administer sacraments, which was also known as ecclesia Pudentiana.
He is commemorated on April 14 and also January 4 in the Eastern Orthodox Church calendar and May 19 according to the Dominican Martyrology.
See also Santa Prassede Santa Pudenziana
Notes
References Martial, Epigrams, ed. & trans. D. R. Shackleton Bailey, Harvard University Press, 1993 George Edmundson (1913), The Church in Rome in the First Century, Note C: The Pudens Legend William Smith (1884), Smith's Bible Dictionary
External links April Synaxarion St. Pudens at Catholic Online
Dominican Martyrology for May