ENSELMINI, HELENA, Blessed. - Clarissan, b. in 1208 in Padua to the noble E. family, d. at l’Arcella near Padua on 4 Nov. 1242. At the age of twelve she was received into the recently founded monastery of l’Arcella, where after six years of regular life she was struck by a severe illness, which she bore with heroic patience until her death. The Lord rewarded her with mysterious visions: she saw the glory of the saints in heaven and the sufferings of purgatory. There is doubt as to whether St Anthony of Padua, who died at l’Arcella in 1231, was, as a later tradition claims, 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.
BIBL.: Bartolomeo da Pisa (15th c.), in Analecta Franciscana, IV, Quaracchi 1906, pp. 385 sqq.; Sisto Polenton (15th c.), Vita et visiones b. Helene, in Acta SS. Novembris, II, Brussels 1894, pp. 512-17; G. Ferretto, Memoria della b. E., Padua 1823; Leone de Clary, L’aureola serafica, IV, Quaracchi 1900, pp. 265-68; V. SACCHIETTI, GIULIO, Antonio di Padova, Milan 1925, pp. 340-42. Livario Oliver