Saint Natalia was born in 1889 in the city of Elets, Oryol province, in the family of carpenter Nikolai Nikolaevich Ulyanov.
In 1910, Natalia moved to Moscow and entered the Novodevichy Monastery, where she labored until its closure in 1922. After the monastery was closed, she remained living in one of the monastic cells, which had been converted into communal apartments. Natalia served as a singer and psalmist, and in 1930 she entered government service.
On March 9, 1938, Natalia was arrested on charges of hostile agitation against the collective farm system. Natalia refused to admit her guilt, asserting that she had not engaged in any agitation. On March 15, the NKVD troika sentenced her to death by shooting.
Saint Natalia Ulyanova was shot on March 22, 1938, and buried in an anonymous mass grave at the Butovo shooting range near Moscow.
