BASEGGIO, Maria Felicita. – Mystic, b. Ferrara 5 May 1752, from an artist’s family originally from Venice, d. Rovigo 11 Feb. 1829. Only at the age of 32 was she admitted among the Tertiary Franciscan sisters of Rovigo. From 1805 to 1810 she lived in the Augustinian convent of the same city. When this Order too was suppressed by Napoleonic decree, she withdrew into private life. Of lively intelligence, she wrote both poetry and prose, recording her mystical experiences. She possessed charisms; on her breast she bore the stigmata in the form of a cross. Her ascetical treatises, theologically sound and profound, follow in the footsteps of St Thomas. The cause for her beatification has been introduced.
BIBL.: F. Giavarini, Una mistica rodigina, suor M. F. B., Rovigo 1947.