FIESCHI, TOMMASINA. - Mystic, b. in Genoa ca. 1448, d. at Acquasola in 1534. Of the noble F. family, she was probably a distant blood relative of St. Catherine F. Adorno. Educated in letters and arts, highly skilled in embroidery, she probably had Giovanni Mazzone d'Alessandria as her master in painting (cf. F. Alizeri: Di suor Tommassa, pittrice e ricamatrice, in Atti della Soc. lig. di storia patria, 8 [1872, 11], p. 410).
Wife, then widow, she took part in the movement of the Divino Amore in Genoa, helping St. Catherine in the care of the sick of Pammatone. Of Catherine's spirituality, F. particularly made her own the concept that spiritual purity is the sole generating principle of love. For her, love is the center of the mystical life. She later became a nun; it is uncertain whether at the monastery of S. Silvestro (Dominican) or of S. Maria delle Grazie (Lateranense). Sent to reform the monastery of Sts. James and Philip at Acquasola, she died there.
F. is a noteworthy mystical writer. A probably autograph manuscript of her works has preserved, together with various minor opuscules, also a Trattato sulla carità in 34 chapters, and the Trattato dei sette gradi dell'amor di Dio.
Bibliography4 worksF. Federici, Della famiglia F., Genoa s. s., p. 23; R. Sopraei, Vita della venerabile suor T. F., monaca domenicana, ibid. 1667; U. Bonzi da
BIBL.: F. Federici, Della famiglia F., Genoa s. s., p. 23; R. Sopraei, Vita della venerabile suor T. F., monaca domenicana, ibid. 1667; U. Bonzi da Genova, Di suor T. F., scrittrice e ricamatrice, in Raccoglitore ligure, 31 Dec. 1933, pp. 9-10; id., Le Traité des sept degrés de l'amour de Dieu de T. F., in Revue d'ascétique et de mystique, 16 (1933), pp. 39-80. The soul, in order to raise itself to perfect divine love, must ascend seven degrees of love, which are: incomparable love, uncontaminable, imperturbable, invincible, infatuable, inseparable, insatiable.
Umile Bonzi da Genova. “Fieschi, tommasina.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. V, coll. 1249–1250. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1950. https://azioneromana.com/article/fieschi-tommasina.
MLA
Umile Bonzi da Genova. “Fieschi, tommasina.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. V, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1950, coll. 1249–1250. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/fieschi-tommasina.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec5_fieschi_tommasina,
author = {Umile Bonzi da Genova},
title = {Fieschi, tommasina},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {V},
pages = {1249--1250},
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/fieschi-tommasina}
}
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