BIONDINI, MARIA ARCANGELA. - Mystical writer, b. 24 June 1641 of Venetian parents at Corfu, where her father was governor, d. at Arco (Trentino) on 23 Nov. 1712. She entered (1655) the Servite nuns of Burano, where she became mistress of novices and abbess. She founded (1689) at Arco a monastery of enclosed Servites of the original observance, drawing up its constitutions, which received apostolic approval. During the French invasion (1702-1703) the nuns were exiled and the convent partly destroyed; she subsequently received assistance from Leopold and Joseph I. After an intense spiritual life marked by extraordinary manifestations, as she was dying she repeated three times to Fr Angelo Zanetti, later her biographer: “annihilation.”
She wrote extensively in prose and verse, almost all of it unpublished. Most of her manuscripts are preserved at Arco. Worth recalling are: Autobiografia; Lumi spirituali; Compendio del divino Amore; Dottrina di Cristo; Sermoni e discorsi vari; Trattato sopra la vera orazione di quiete e la falsa; Trattato sopra la quiete; Sopra i libri mistici.
The following were printed, though they are difficult to obtain: Convitto al peccatore; Piccolo raggio di luce celeste; Cento lettere spirituali.