Saint of the Day – 13 February – Blessed Christine of Spoleto OSA (1435-1458)

Saint of the Day – 13 February – Blessed Christine of Spoleto OSA (1435-1458) – Widow, mother, religious nun of the Order of Saint Augustine – born Agostina Camozzi in 1435 at Lake Lugano, Italy and died on 13 February 1458 in Spoleto, Italy of natural causes. Blessed Christine led a dissolute life as a widow and a soldier’s mistress before she became a nun and adopted a life of total repentance.

Agostina Camozzi was the daughter of a well-known doctor in Ostenso in the Italian province of Como.   A graceful and attractive young woman, she married at an early age but within a short time was left widowed.   In a second unmarried relationship she suffered the loss of her only child, a son.   A subsequent marriage left her widowed again, this time at the hands of a jealous rival.

In about 1450 Agostina underwent a serious conversion, became an Augustinian Tertiary and changed her name to that of Christine.   Her time in the order became noted for the severe austerities that she imposed upon herself as penance for her earlier life and she lived in a number of convents where she became known as a miracle-worker until settling in Spoleto.   She clothed herself in a habit that was made from sown-together rags and meditated with great remorse, on the passion of Jesus Christ

In 1457 she undertook a pilgrimage with the intention of visiting Assisi, Rome and Jerusalem.   Together with another tertiary she arrived in Spoleto in the province of Perugia where she devoted herself to the care of the sick and where she died on 13 February 1458, not yet 30 years of age.   Her body was interred in the Church of Saint Nicholas in Spoleto, which at the time belonged to the Augustinians.

Her reputation as a woman of holiness and a worker of numerous miracles caused devotion to Christine to spread quickly and widely.   Pope Gregory XVI confirmed her cult in 1834, proclaiming her blessed.