PALMA, BIAGIO

PALMA, BIAGIO. — Barnabite spiritual writer, b. at Fara Sabina in 1577 and d. on 13 January 1635 at the Roman College of S. Carlo a' Catinari.

Among the various spiritual works he published, the following achieved wide circulation: Atti virtuosi interni dell'anima cristiana (Rome 1616), which, because of the unction that pervades them and the very large number of editions made of them (now anonymous and now under another title, such as Palma spirituale, Thesaurus), were compared with the Imitation of Christ or the Filotea of s. Francesco di Sales; Core sacrato a Giesù (ibid. 1626), composed of 20 heart-shaped engravings, each with at its foot a

(phot. Enc. Catt.)
PALMA — Funerary inscription of 363, on which are scratched: the p. (twice), the crown, the Constantinian monogram and, in a monogram, « palma et laurus » — Rome, Lateran Museum.

a brief commentary in verse, in dialogue between God and the soul; Exercises and meditations for Advent (there 1625) and for Lent (Macerata 1628); the Life of s. Francesca Romana (Rome 1626); the Rules and a small Treatise for the pious « Congregazione dell'Umiltà di S. Carlo », which he founded in Rome for the care of the sick in hospitals. One of his manuscripts, in which he recounted the providential intervention of the Blessed Virgin through his agency in the continuation of the construction of the church of S. Carlo ai Catinari, inspired his confrère Fr. Maffetti to initiate (1732) the cult of Our Lady under the title « Mater Divinae Providentiae ». Among the manuscripts there is an important Diary of the servant of God Sister Maria Vittoria Angelini, a famous Roman mystic of the Third Order of the Servants of Mary, a disciple of the Barnabites and buried in their church of S. Carlo ai Catinari.