STROZZI ACQUAVIVA, ISABELLA, duchess of ATRI. - Collaborator of St. Leonardo da Porto Maurizio, born 4 Aug. 1703; in 1727 she married Filippo Strozzi, duke of Bagnolo, and died 24 Aug. 1760.
Sister of Card. Troiano Acquaviva (d. 21 March 1747), protector of the Franciscan Order, she was a lady of the court and a friend of Maria Clementina Sobieska, wife of Giacomo (III) Stuart, claimant to the throne of England. Like this “queen,” who was a “woman of heroic virtues” (L. A. Muratori, Annali, a. 1735), S. was guided by St. Leonardo da Porto Maurizio along the paths of perfection. In the Complete Works of the Saint (vol. II, Rome 1853; vol. IV, Venice 1868), 19 letters addressed to her, dated from 17 Aug. 1733 to 29 March 1747, are published, with an interruption of 5 years (1742–46); another is published by Fr. B. Innocenti in Operette e lettere inedite (Arezzo 1925, pp. 103–104). In them St. Leonardo asks her to assist the needy or thanks her for her benefactions, but above all urges her to detach herself completely from the world, pointing to the example of her whom he calls “our good queen,” Maria Clementina.
Renata Orazi Ausenda