TORELLI, LUDOVICA, countess of GUASTALLA. — Beneficent noblewoman, born at Guastalla in 1500, died at Milan on 28 October 1569.
The only daughter of Achille, duke of Guastalla, she was widowed at seventeen of Ludovico Stanga, a Cremonese patrician; at twenty-two she was orphaned when her father was killed by Ercole Gonzaga at a ball; at twenty-seven she was widowed for the second time, after a year of marriage, of Count Antonio Martinengo of Brescia, murdered by the relatives of his first wife, whom he had killed. At the Battista da Crema (v.) she devoted herself entirely to works of piety and charity and took the name of Paola. Having moved to Milan, she assisted s. Antonio M. ZACCARIA, SANTO (v.) in the foundation of the Angeliche, for whom she built the convent and church of S. Paolo in Milan and of S. Marta in Cremona; and she lived holily among them without taking their habit or professing their vows. In 1538 she sold the fief of Guastalla and other castles to Ferrante Gonzaga. The convent of the S.mo Crocifisso in Milan, for repentant women, regarded her almost as its foundress. With the Angeliche she took part in the mission to Vicenza (1537), and at Ferrara she was held in high esteem by mons. Giberti, and also at Venice, where the Barnabites and the Angeliche had assumed the direction of the Hospital of SS. Giovanni and Paolo. But when enclosure was imposed upon the Angeliche, T. on 15 December 1553 withdrew first to the residence of the widow of the marquis del Vasto, governor of Milan, Maria d’Aragona, princess of Molfetta, and then to the convent of the Convertite, which she had founded at Ferrara in 1547. In 1557, in Milan, near S. Barnaba, she founded the College for impoverished noble maidens, which the people called, as they also called the street where it arose, “della Guastalla,” and Porta Ludovica, one of the city gates. She entrusted its spiritual direction to the Jesuits and, comforted by the visit of s. Carlo, died there
after twelve years of a most devout life. She was laid to rest in the church of S. Fedele; but when the College, damaged by the bombardments (1943), was recently transferred from Milan to a villa near Monza, the body of the pious foundress was also transported there and buried in the chapel.
Virginio M. Colciago