ENSELMINI, ELENA, blessed. - Poor Clare, born in
1208 at Padova to the noble family of the E., died at
l'Arcella near Padova on 4 Nov. 1242. At the age of
12 she was received into the recently founded monastery
of l'Arcella, where, after six years of regular life, she
was struck by a grave illness, which she endured with
heroic patience until her death. The Lord rewarded her
with mysterious visions: she beheld the glory of the
saints in heaven and the sufferings of purgatory.
It is doubtful that s. Antonio di Padova, who died at
l'Arcella in 1231, was, as a later tradition maintains,
her spiritual director. The cult of the Blessed was
approved in 1695 by Innocenzo XII. Her feast is celebrated
in the Franciscan Order on 7 (formerly 5) Nov.
BBL.: 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, Bruzel-
les 1894, pp. 512-17; G. Ferretto, Memorie della b. E. E., Pa-
dova 1823; Leone de Clary, L'aureola serafica, IV, Quarac-
chi 1900, pp. 265-68; V. Facchinetti, Antonio di Padova, Mi-
lano 1925, pp. 340-42.