FIESCHI, TOMMASINA. - Mystic, b. in Genoa c. 1448, d. at Acquasola in 1534. Of the noble Fieschi family, she was probably a distant kinswoman of St. Catherine Fieschi Adorno. Educated in letters and the arts, highly skilled in embroidery, she likely had masters in painting, including Giovanni Mazzone of Alessandria (cf. Id. Alimari).
(cf. F. Alizeri: Di suor Tommasa, pittrice e ricamatrice, in Atti della Soc. lig. di storia patria, 8 [1872, 11], p. 410).
After marriage and widowhood, she took part in the movement of the Divine Love in Genoa, assisting St. Catherine in caring for the sick at Pammatone. From Catherine’s spirituality, Fieschi particularly adopted the idea that spiritual purity is the sole generative principle of love. For her, love is the center of mystical life. She later became a nun; it is uncertain whether at the monastery of St. Sylvester (Dominican) or of St. Mary of the Graces (Lateran). Sent to reform the monastery of SS. James and Philip at Acquasola, she died there.
Fieschi is a noteworthy mystical writer. A monastery has preserved a noteworthy collection of her works, including various minor treatises and a Treatise on Charity in 34 chapters, as well as the Treatise on the Seven Degrees of the Love of God.