BASEGGIO, MARIA FELICITA. – Mystic, born in Ferrara on 5 May 1752 to a family of artists originally from Venice; died in Rovigo on 11 February 1829. Only at the age of 32 was she able to be admitted among the Franciscan Third-Order sisters of Rovigo. From 1805 to 1810 she was in the Augustinian convent of the same city. When this Order too was suppressed by Napoleonic decree, she withdrew into private life. Of lively intellect, she wrote poetry and prose, documenting her mystical experiences. She possessed charisms; on her breast she bore the stigmata in the form of a cross. Her ascetical writings, theologically sound and profound, follow in the footsteps of s. Tommaso. The cause of beatification has been introduced.
BIBL.: F. Giavarini, Una mistica rodigina, uor M. F. B., Rovigo 1947. Fortunato Giavarini