CRISTIANA DA SANTA CROCE (DA LUCCA), BEATA

CRISTIANA of SANTA CROCE (of LUCCA), Blessed. — Born of poor parents at S. Croce sull'Arno in 1240, died there on 4 January 1310. At baptism she was given the name Origna; later the people called her C. She preserved her virginity intact despite unheard-of snares. In her youth, while in Lucca in the service of a noble family, she made a pilgrimage to Monte Gargano and to Assisi. Returning to S. Croce, in 1279 she founded a monastery and gave the nuns the Rule of St Augustine. She was distinguished especially by her devotion to the Eucharist and to the Blessed Virgin, and by her admirable conformity to the will of God. Her devotees call her “saint.” Her cult, confirmed by Leo X, Sixtus V, Clement X, and Clement XIV, was officially approved by the Church in 1776. Feast: 18 February.