VENERABLE CHIARA MARIA DELLA PASSIONE. — Discalced Carmelite mystic, Princess Giovanna Vittoria Colonna-Barberini, born on 11 April 1610 in Orsogna (Chieti) to Don Filippo Colonna, Duke of Paliano; died in Rome on 22 August 1675.
Educated among the Augustinian nuns of Naples, after a period of laxity during which she indulged in vanities and amusements, she returned to God and was favored with celestial visions. She entered the Carmelite order at the very poor monastery of St Egidio in Rome on 4 October 1628. She led a life of extreme austerity; purified by God through inner sufferings and temptations, and enriched with extraordinary gifts, she arrived at mystical espousal. In 1645 she founded in Rome the monastery of the Discalced Carmelites of Regina Coeli, where she died in holiness. Shortly after her death, the process for her beatification was introduced, and her heroic virtues were recognized by the Church on 22 August 1762.