Machine translation of the 1948–1954 Italian original. The original text is authoritative.
GIULIANA FALCONIERI, saint. – Foundress of the women religious of the Third Order of the Servants of Mary (the Mantellate). According to the writings of Paolo degli Attavanti (second half of the 15th century) and, above all, the accounts collected in the 17th century in order to obtain the insertion of the Saint in the Roman Martyrology, G. belonged to the noble Florentine family of the F., was born when her parents, Chiarissimo and Ricordata, were advanced in age, around 1270, and was supposedly educated by her uncle, St Alessio F., one of the seven founders of the Servants of Mary.
At the age of 14 she met (according to tradition) the minister general of the Servants of Mary, St Filippo Benizi, who admired her exceptional virtues and shortly thereafter clothed her in the religious habit of the Servants of Mary. She could not immediately abandon the world because she was obliged to care for her elderly mother. Nevertheless, she gathered companions who soon imitated her and lived, as she did, in their own homes, in a common dwelling. They took the name Mantellate from the long mantle-
(from F. Baix-C. Lambot, La dévotion à l'Eucharistie et la VIIᵉ centenaire de la Fête-Dieu, Gembious 1856, plate f. 43)GIULIANA FALCONIERI, saint – S. G. and St Filippo Benizi present to the Most Blessed Mary a group of confraternity members of the Annunziata. Detail of the Gonfalone dell'Annunziata commissioned by the confraternity of the same name in 1466, perhaps from Niccolò Alunno, Perugia, Pinacoteca.G. joined them after her mother’s death, around 1302, and was immediately elected superior. After prolonged suffering, having miraculously received Holy Communion, she died on 19 June 1341. Her relics are venerated in Florence in the church of the Most Holy Annunciation. She was canonized by Clement XII on 16 June 1737. Feast day: 19 June.
BIBL.: Acta SS. Iunii, IV, Parigi 1867, pp. 766-74; A. Lépicier, Ste Julienne Falconieri, Bruxelles 1907 (Italian translation Pistoia 1922); A. M. Wimmer, Der hl. Philipp Benizi, Friburgo 1932; M. Courayville, S. G. dei F., la santa dell'Eucaristia, Firenze 1938; Martyr. Romanum, p. 243. Ulderico Vicentini
Cite this article
“GIULIANA FALCONIERI, SANTA.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VI (1951), p. 455. Azione Romana digital edition, https://azioneromana.com/article/giuliana-falconieri-santa.
