“Everyone called me fire”: the extraordinary life of Saint Veronica Giuliani

At the end of the 1600s, Orsola Giuliani, at the age of 17, against her father’s wishes, who wanted her to marry, entered the Capuchin Monastery of Santa Chiara in Città di Castello. She chose the name Veronica in memory of Christ’s Passion (Apocryphal Gospels) and became one of the greatest contemplative figures in the West, as well as the first woman to bear stigmata recognized by the Church.

Her extraordinary life began in childhood when she had her first visions of Jesus. She was a frail and austere woman with an intense spiritual life, who chose a path of mortification and penance to atone for the sins of others. At the request of her spiritual director, she wrote a diary, “Il tesoro nascosto” (The Hidden Treasure), published after her death, which exemplifies her mystical and contemplative experience. In one of her drawings, she depicted objects linked to Christ’s Passion that she believed were held within her body, including a lance piercing her heart. At her death, the Bishop of Città di Castello requested an autopsy, which revealed Veronica’s heart “pierced through,” just as she had drawn.

Beatified in 1804, she was canonized in 1839. Her life even inspired a film, “Il risveglio di un gigante” (“The Awakening of a Giant”, directed by Valeria Baldan and Giovanni Ziberna, 2016).

Blessed Margaret

In the Church of San Domenico, you can see the incorrupt body of Saint Margaret, a mystical religious figure who lived between the 13th and 14th centuries. Born blind and deformed, Margaret was brought to Città di Castello by her parents in search of a miraculous cure from the Franciscan friar Giacomo da Città di Castello, who had died with a reputation for sanctity. When no miracle occurred, her family abandoned her in the Umbrian town. After living among the town’s poor for a time, Margaret became a Dominican tertiary.

She led a life of prayer and service to the poor and needy, marked by mystical phenomena such as miracles, levitations, and visions of Christ. Beatified in 1609, she was canonized in 2021.

Blessed Colomba of Rieti

The cloistered monastery of Blessed Colomba is located in Perugia on Corso Garibaldi. Here, the relics of the blessed woman are preserved, and her cell has been faithfully reconstructed. The original monastery, founded by Colomba in 1488 and dedicated to Saint Catherine of Siena, was located on Corso Cavour, but it was transformed into a barracks following the 19th-century confiscations.

Angiolella Guadagnoli, born in Rieti in 1467, was called Colomba (Dove) because a dove hovered over the baptismal font during the entire ceremony.
From a young age, she dedicated herself to penance and prayer. After refusing a marriage proposal from a nobleman, she became a Dominican tertiary at the age of 19. While on a pilgrimage to Siena to visit the sites of Saint Catherine, she stopped in Perugia, where she was joined by noble girls from the city who asked to follow her example. The Baglioni family, the city’s hidden rulers, financed the construction of a convent to house Colomba and the other religious women, as having the protection of a saint brought honor and prestige. Thus, the Monastery of the Doves was born.

At the time, Perugia was torn apart by fierce internal conflicts between rival families and factions within the same family. Colomba worked tirelessly to resolve these disputes. In 1494, she miraculously saved the city from the plague by advising the city authorities to have a banner painted and carried in procession for three days. The beautiful banner, painted by Giannicola di Paolo, depicting Perugia under the protection of Christ the Judge, the Virgin, and the saints, is preserved on an altar in the Church of San Domenico.

Colomba also had the gift of prophecy, and for this, she was held in high regard by the local authorities (she predicted the Blood Wedding of Astorre Baglioni in 1500) and by Pope Alexander VI Borgia, to whom she foretold the tragic fate of his children.

Colomba died in 1501, at just 34 years old. Beatified in 1625, a chapel in the Church of San Domenico was dedicated to her.

Saint Clare

Chiara (Claire) di Favarone di Scifo was born in Assisi in 1194. Her parents belonged to some of the noblest and wealthiest families in the city. According to tradition, Clare and her family lived in a palace — still standing today — next to the beautiful Cathedral of San Rufino.

Even as a child, Clare demonstrated great faith and a strong inclination toward generosity and charity for the needy. In 1206, Francesco di Pietro di Bernardone renounced all his possessions to live a life of poverty and prayer in front of the Bishop of Assisi. This event deeply affected the young Clare, who soon wanted to follow his example, abandoning the comfort of her father’s home.

On the night of Palm Sunday, she fled to the Church of Santa Maria della Porziuncola, now housed within the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli. There, despite her family’s fierce opposition, she received the tonsure from Saint Francis himself and was placed in the care of the Benedictine nuns. Later, joined by her sister Agnes and other young women, she moved to the humble Church of San Damiano, where she founded the religious order of the Poor Clares.

Francis had made a courageous choice, becoming the poorest of the poor after being the son of a wealthy family; Clare’s choice was even more radical, as she was both noble and a woman.

Her life is closely tied to the city of Assisi, which she saved from the troops of Frederick II of Swabia by displaying the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist.

Clare passed away in 1253 at the Church of San Giorgio, which was later transformed into the Basilica of Santa Chiara, where her body now rests. Inside the basilica are preserved mementos of both Francis and Clare, including the saint’s beautiful blonde hair, kept in a glass reliquary.

For her exemplary life, Clare was canonized by Pope Alexander two years after her death.

Saint Angela

The city of Foligno is linked to two important female figures of Christianity: Saint Angela of Foligno and Saint Angelina of Montegiove.

Saint Angela was born in Foligno in 1248 to a wealthy family. After losing her father, she was married to a nobleman from Foligno and became the mother of several children, living a “wild, adulterous, and sacrilegious” life. In the following years, she developed a deep desire to approach the sacrament of penance, and at the age of 37, despite the opposition of her family, she embarked on a path of conversion. After losing her husband, children, and mother, she entered the Third Order of Saint Francis in 1291, living a life inspired by the example of Saint Francis of Assisi. She is the author, through an intermediary, of a Memorial that testifies to her mystical and spiritual experiences.

She died on January 4, 1309, and was beatified in 1693 by Pope Innocent XII, but only canonized in 2013 by an equivalent canonization. Even today, she is still commonly known as Blessed Angela of Foligno. Her body rests in the Church of San Francesco and Shrine of Blessed Angela.

Opposite the tomb of Saint Angela, an urn held the mortal remains of Saint Angelina until 2010. Born in 1357 in Montegiove, a district of Montegabbione, Angelina was one of the most important figures in female religiosity in the 15th century. Of noble origin (her father was a member of the Counts of Marsciano), she was born in the family estate at the Castle of Montegiove, a few kilometers from Orvieto. After being orphaned early, she moved to Foligno with her sister, where she founded the Third Regular Order of Saint Francis. She was the first woman to receive permission from Pope Boniface IX in 1403 to live in a community without being cloistered. This led to the creation of the Community of Sant’Anna. Becoming a tertiary was, at the time, the only way for women to carry out works of assistance and care outside the convent walls. Together with Blessed Paoluccio Trinci, Angelina founded the Monastery of Sant’Anna in Foligno, where she died in 1435. Her remains are preserved there.

Saint Clare

The city of Montefalco is tied to the figure of Saint Clare, born in 1268. From a young age, she followed in the footsteps of her sister Giovanna, who had founded the Reclusory of San Leonardo, where women could dedicate themselves to a life of prayer inspired by the rule of Saint Francis of Assisi. Clare entered at the age of six, and when her sister decided to move the community to the new reclusory of Santa Croce, she followed. After her sister’s death, Clare took her place, becoming abbess at just 23 years old. During this period, she distinguished herself not only for her oratory and prophetic virtues but also for giving new impetus to the religious community she led, so much so that in 1303 she promoted the expansion of the monastery and the construction of the Church of Santa Croce. In this place, Clare, gravely ill, died in 1308 and was buried. During a re-examination of her body, ordered by the Bishop of Spoleto, a mark was found on her heart that formed the image of a crucifix and a scourge. Thus began the process of canonization, which concluded only in 1881. The church of the Monastery of Saint Angela houses the incorrupt body of the saint in a solid silver reliquary. On either side are preserved, as relics, the signs found on her body.

Saint Scholastica

Considered the founder of female Benedictine monasticism, Scholastica, twin sister of Saint Benedict, was born in Norcia in 480. Much of what is known about her life, which remained overshadowed by her brother’s, comes from family-related details in Gregory the Great’s Dialogues. Their mother, of noble origins, died giving birth to the twins, while their father, from the ancient Roman family of the Anicii, had vowed to dedicate her to monastic life. At twelve years old, both Scholastica and Benedict were sent to Rome to complete their classical studies, but both were disturbed by the city’s decadence. Benedict was the first to retreat into an eremitic life, and Scholastica, despite being the sole heir to the family estate, decided to follow her brother’s example. Faithful to her father’s vow, she was allowed to enter a monastery near Norcia.

Later, she followed her brother, who had founded the Abbey of Montecassino in Subiaco, to establish her own female monastery in Piumarola, where she passed away in 547. She founded the female branch of the Benedictine Order, which would be instrumental in the history of women religious. Scholastica was buried in the tomb where her brother Benedict would be laid to rest two months later.

Saint Rita

The hamlet of Roccaporena, in the municipality of Cascia, is closely tied to the life of Margherita Lotti (born in 1381), who would become Saint Rita, the “saint of impossible causes”.

The first miraculous event of her life occurred when Rita was still an infant: a swarm of bees covered her, landing on her lips without harming her. Though she wished for a life of prayer, her parents arranged her marriage to Paolo di Ferdinando Mancini, a violent and quarrelsome man, with whom she had two sons. Although her husband showed signs of repentance after their marriage, he was killed due to rancor and old grievances. According to custom, their sons were expected to avenge his death, but Saint Rita prayed that they would die rather than become murderers.

Thus, left alone, she decided to enter the Augustinian Monastery of Santa Maria Maddalena. For reasons unknown, her novitiate was refused three times until, around 1407, she was miraculously found inside the monastery walls and finally accepted. From that point on, she led a life of penance, prayer, and service to others.

On the evening of Good Friday, April 18, 1432, Rita is said to have received a thorn from Christ’s crown on her forehead, and from that moment on, she bore the stigmata until her death. In 1446, already gravely ill, she expressed a desire to travel to Rome for the canonization of Nicola da Tolentino, but the prioress forbade her to go due to the purulent wound on her forehead, which miraculously disappeared, only to reappear when Rita returned to the convent.

Her final miracle occurred in the winter before her death when, bedridden, she asked a cousin to bring her a rose and two figs from her garden. To her cousin’s amazement, a red rose had blossomed in the snow, a flower still associated with the saint today. Gravely ill, Rita passed away on the night of May 22, 1457. Canonized in 1900 by Pope Leo XIII, her mortal remains are venerated in the Basilica of Saint Rita, built between 1937 and 1947.

Blessed Lucia Broccadelli

The city of Narni commemorates the life of Blessed Lucia, a religious figure who gained extraordinary fame.

Lucia Broccadelli was born in 1476, and despite deciding at a young age to consecrate herself to God with a vow of chastity, she was forced to marry Count Pietro di Alessio da Milano. Their marriage was purely spiritual and lasted only three years, during which time Lucia showed strong devotion to saints such as Catherine of Siena and Domenico. Leaving her husband’s house to follow her vocation, Lucia first traveled to Rome and then to Viterbo, where, at the age of 18, she received the habit of a Dominican tertiary.

In this city, she became known for her visions, mystical ecstasies, and severe penances, culminating in the appearance of stigmata on her side, hands, and feet. Pope Alexander VI and Duke Ercole I d'Este ordered her arrival in Ferrara in 1499, where Lucia founded the Monastery of Saint Catherine of Siena.

The fame that had brought her to the Estense court soon faded: doubts about her rectitude and the authenticity of her stigmata forced her to resign as prioress and accept a life of total seclusion in the monastery she had founded, where she died in 1544. Her body remained in Ferrara until 1935, when it was returned to her hometown and placed inside the Cathedral of San Giovenale in Narni.

Saint Giovanna of Orvieto

In 1264, in the Castle of Carnaiola, a district of Fabro, Blessed Giovanna — or Blessed Vanna — of Orvieto was born into a family of fallen nobility.

Orphaned at a young age, she was raised in the home of some relatives, and to avoid burdening the family, she was sent to learn the trade of seamstress.

She soon showed great devotion, desiring a life of chastity. However, she was promised in marriage against her will, so she fled to Orvieto, where she was accepted into the Monastery of the Dominican Tertiaries, receiving the habit at just 14 years old.

Vanna was known for her patience, kindness, and sweetness. Inside the monastery walls, inexplicable phenomena began to occur: Vanna often fell into ecstasies, experienced levitation, and in the last years of her life, every Friday, she would relive in her body the suffering of Christ’s Passion.

She died in 1306 in Orvieto, where she was buried in the Church of San Domenico. She was beatified by Pope Benedict XIV nearly four hundred years later.