GIULIANA FALCONIERI, Saint
Foundress of the Religious of the Third Order of the Servants of Mary (the Mantellate). According to the writings of Paolo degli Atavanti (second half of the 15th century) and especially the accounts collected in the 17th century, in order to secure the inclusion of the Saint in the Roman Martyrology, G. belonged to the noble Florentine family of the F., born when her parents, Chiarissimo and Ricordata, were already advanced in years, ca. 1270, and was educated by her uncle St. Alessio F., one of the seven founders of the Servants of Mary.
At the age of 14, she met (always according to tradition) the Minister General of the Servants of Mary, St. Philip Benizi, who admired her singular virtues and shortly after 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. However, she gathered companions who soon imitated her and lived as she did in their own homes, in a common dwelling. They took the name of Mantellate from the long mantle
GIULIANA FALCONIERI, Saint
St. G. and St. Philip Benizi present a group of confrères of the Annunziata to the Most Holy Mary. Detail of the Gonfalone of the Annunziata painted by the homonymous confraternity in the year 1466, perhaps by Niccolò Alunno. Perugia, Pinacoteca.
After her mother’s death, ca. 1302, she joined them and was immediately elected superior. After long sufferings, having miraculously received Holy Communion, she died on 19 June 1341. Her relics are venerated in Florence in the church of the Most Holy Annunziata. She was canonized by Clement XII on 16 June 1737. Feast on 19 June.