Saint Humility (Humilitas; it, Umiltà) (c. 1226 – 22 May 1310) was a founder of Vallumbrosan

convent A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglic ...

s, and is considered the founder of the Vallumbrosan Nuns.

Biography

Born Rosanna Negusanti to a noble family from

Faenza Faenza (, , ; rgn, Fènza or ; la, Faventia) is an Italian city and comune of 59,063 inhabitants in the province of Ravenna, Emilia-Romagna, situated southeast of Bologna. Faenza is home to a historical manufacture of majolica-ware glazed eart ...

, she was married at the age of fifteen to a

nobleman Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The characteristi ...

named Ugoletto (Ugonotto) dei Caccianemici (d. 1256). She bore two children, both of whom died in infancy. In 1250, Ugoletto became a

monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...

upon recovering from an illness that nearly killed him. Rosanna entered the same double

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone ( hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer whic ...

of canonesses named Saint Perpetua, near Faenza, becoming a

nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is ...

and taking the name Humilitas. She became an

anchoress In Christianity, an anchorite or anchoret (female: anchoress) is someone who, for religious reasons, withdraws from secular society so as to be able to lead an intensely prayer-oriented, ascetic, or Eucharist-focused life. While anchorites ar ...

in a cell attached to the Vallumbrosan church of Saint Apollinaris in Faenza, where she lived as a hermit or recluse for twelve years. However, at the request of the abbot-general she founded a Vallumbrosan monastery (which became called Santa Maria Novella alla Malta) outside Faenza and became its abbess. Blessed Margherita became one of her disciples. In 1282, she founded a second convent at

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...

, dedicated to Saint John the Evangelist, where she died in 1310 of

natural causes In many legal jurisdictions, the manner of death is a determination, typically made by the coroner, medical examiner, police, or similar officials, and recorded as a vital statistic. Within the United States and the United Kingdom, a disti ...

. She left a number of mystical writings. She is most known for composing and preaching nine Latin sermons, and for writing Lauds to the Virgin Mary in verse. She was

canonized Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon catalogue of s ...

on 27 January 1720 by

Pope Clement XI Pope Clement XI ( la, Clemens XI; it, Clemente XI; 23 July 1649 – 19 March 1721), born Giovanni Francesco Albani, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 23 November 1700 to his death in March 1721. Clement XI w ...

. Her feast day is celebrated on 22 May. The

relics In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or the personal effects of the saint or venerated person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tang ...

of Humility and her disciple Margherita are venerated at the convent of Spirito Santo at near Florence. Image:Pietro_Lorenzetti_001.jpg, Scene from the life of Saint Humility. Fresco by

Pietro Lorenzetti Pietro Lorenzetti (; – 1348) or Pietro Laurati was an Italian painter, active between c. 1306 and 1345. Together with his younger brother Ambrogio, he introduced naturalism into Sienese art. In their artistry and experiments with three-dimens ...

References

External links

Catholic Online

Santi e beati: Santa Umiltà
{{DEFAULTSORT:Humility, Saint 1226 births 1310 deaths Medieval Italian saints 13th-century Italian Roman Catholic religious sisters and nuns Founders of Catholic religious communities People from the Province of Ravenna 13th-century Christian saints 14th-century Christian saints Female saints of medieval Italy 14th-century Italian Roman Catholic religious sisters and nuns Canonizations by Pope Clement XI

Biography

See also

References

External links