GAMBACORTA, CHIARA, Blessed. - Born in Pisa in 1936 to Pietro G., governor of the city. At the age of seven she was betrothed to the young Simone of Massa; but she had already offered herself to God, fasting, praying, and dedicating herself to the service of the most repugnant sick. She was barely fifteen when Simone died prematurely: then she cut her hair, abandoned her rich garments, and took refuge in a convent of Poor Clares, where she left behind her name of Tora (diminutive of Teodora), taking that of Chiara. But her brothers, who viewed the young nun’s ardent vocation with disfavour, forcibly removed her from the convent and kept her prisoner for five months. However, faced with her heroic steadfastness, they finally allowed her to enter the Dominican convent in Pisa.
The tragedy that soon afterwards brought ruin to her noble family reduced her to such acute prostration that her recovery seemed hopeless. Once restored, she wished, with evangelical charity and noble magnanimity of soul, to succour those same Appiani who had done so much harm to her loved ones. In 1584 she founded the Pisan monastery of S. Domenico, with a very strict rule, to which she herself submitted first, despite her frail constitution, giving a marvellous example of self-denial, zeal, and holiness of life. She died young on 17 April 1419. Pius VIII approved her cult in 1830. Testimonies to her religious activity and sincere faith are found in some Letters (cf. the edition by C. G. Giusti, Livorno 1871), in which a poetic Franciscan simplicity alternates with attitudes and cadences reminiscent of St Catherine.