FLORENTINA, saint. — Sister of St. Leander, St. Fulgentius, and St. Isidore, born in Cartagena, died around 612. In 554 she moved to Seville.
Nun in a monastery near the city; St. Leander wrote for her the De institutione virginum, a fervent praise of virginity and an ascetic-disciplinary handbook, accepted as a rule by several women’s monasteries. At F.’s request, St. Isidore wrote the De fide catholica contra Iudaeos. Feast day, 20 June. She is patroness of the diocese of Plasencia. Her relics are venerated at the Escorial and in Murcia.
BIBL.: J. Perez de Urbel, Los monies españoles en la edad media, I, 2ª ed., Madrid 1945, pp. 232-31; A. C. Vega, El De institutione verginunt de i. Leandro de Sevilla con diez capitulos y medio indicios, in La Ciudad de Dios, 156 (1947), pp. 275-294.