DOMENICA da PARADISO, venerable. – Dominican mystic, born on 8 September 1473 at Paradiso (hence her surname), on the outskirts of Florence; died in Florence on 5 August 1553. From her earliest years she enjoyed rare charisms: ecstasies, miracles, prophecies, scrutiny of hearts, and visions. She was also granted the gift of the stigmata. She was highly active as well. Her name is particularly associated with the Florentine monastery of S. Croce (known as “della Crocetta”), which she founded (1511) and endowed. She entered it with her disciples in April 1513 and was buried in its little church. Even today she makes her powerful intercession felt.
BIBL.: I. Del Nente, Vita e costumi ed intelligenze spirituali della ven. m. sr. D. da P..., Venice 1675; 2nd ed., Florence 1743; B.-M. Borghigiani, Intera narrazione della vita, costumi e intelligenze spirituali della ven. sposa di Gesù, suor D. da P..., Florence 1719, 1802; Année dominicaine, new ed., I, Lyon (1808), pp. 313–45. Abele Redigonda