ENSELMINI, Helen, Blessed. - Poor Clare, b. in 1208 in Padua to the noble E. family, d. at the Arcella near Padua on 4 November 1242. At the age of 12 she was received into the monastery of the Arcella, of recent foundation, where after six years of regular life she was struck by a grave illness borne with heroic patience until death. The Lord rewarded her with mysterious visions: she saw the glory of the saints in heaven and the sufferings of purgatory. It is doubtful that St. Anthony of Padua, who died at the Arcella in 1231, was, as a later tradition would have it, her spiritual director. The cult of the Blessed was approved in 1695 by Innocent XII. Her feast is celebrated in the Franciscan Order on 7 (formerly 5) November.

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BIBL.: Bartolomeo da Pisa (15th cent.), in Analecta Franciscana, IV, Quaracchi 1906, p. 338 ff.; Sicco Polenton (15th cent.), Vita et visiones b. Helene, in Acta SS. Novembri. II, Brussels 1894, pp. 512-17; G. Ferretto, Memorie della b. E. E., Padua 1823; Leone de Clary, L'aureola serafica, IV, Quaracchi 1900, pp. 265-68; V. Facchinetti, Antonio di Padova, Milan 1925, pp. 340-42. Livario Oliger

@incollection{ec5_enselmini_elena_beata, author = {Oliger, Livario}, title = {Enselmini, elena, beata}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {V}, pages = {394}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1950}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/enselmini-elena-beata} }

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Enselmini, Helen, Blessed

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