Elena Valentinis (1396 - 23 April 1458) was an Italian

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professed religious from the tertiaries of the Order of Saint Augustine. Valentinis was born to nobles and married a knight during her adolescence while mothering six children before she was widowed in 1441. She soon became a professed religious and dedicated herself to austerities and a life of complete penance. Her beatification was ratified on 27 September 1848 after

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approved her local 'cultus' - or popular veneration.

Life

Elena Valentinis was born in

Udine Udine ( , ; fur, Udin; la, Utinum) is a city and ''comune'' in north-eastern Italy, in the middle of the Friuli Venezia Giulia region, between the Adriatic Sea and the Alps (''Alpi Carniche''). Its population was 100,514 in 2012, 176,000 with t ...

in 1396 to the nobleman Count Valentinis - a lord of Maniago. She had at least one sister: Perfetta. In her adolescence in 1411 she married the Florentine knight Antonio del Cavalcanti and the pair had six children - three males and three females. He died in 1441 and as a result she cut off her hair and placed it with her jewels in his coffin and said: "These I wore for love of you; take them to the grave with you". Valentinis later attended a sermon that Fra Angelo da San Severino gave at the Augustinian church of Santa Lucia and decided then and there to join the order. She became a professed third order member of the Order of Saint Augustine (the first for the third order in Udine) sometime in 1441 where she soon became known for her several austerities and her life of dedication to her fellow man and woman. One of her austerities was to take a vow of silence though she spoke on

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night alone. She continued to live at home though later moved in with her sister in 1446 who also was a third order Augustinian and resided there until her death. Valentinis was known for her ecstatic trances as well as the noted gift of healing others. She became known for her ardent devotion to the

Eucharist The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was instit ...

and to the Passion of

Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

. Valentinis also placed 33 pebbles in her shoes as an act of penance. Valentinis became bedridden in 1455 after fracturing both her femurs in a fall and she preferred a pallet of stones and straw to an actual bed. Her declining health led to her death on the Saturday evening of 23 April 1458. On her deathbed Mass was celebrated and friars from a

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 Anglican ...

not too far from her came to sing

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. Her remains were interred in Santa Lucia but later moved to the

Udine Cathedral Udine Cathedral ( it, Duomo di Udine, ''Cattedrale di Santa Maria Maggiore'') is a Catholic cathedral located in Udine, north-eastern Italy. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Udine The Archdiocese of Udine ( la, Archidioecesis Utinensis) is a ...

in 1845.

Beatification

Her local 'cultus' - otherwise known as popular veneration to her - received official ratification from

on 27 September 1848 which allowed for him to issue his approval for her beatification.

References

External links

Saints SQPN
{{DEFAULTSORT:Valentinis, Elena 1396 births 1458 deaths 15th-century venerated Christians 15th-century Italian Roman Catholic religious sisters and nuns Augustinian Order Beatifications by Pope Pius IX Elective mutes Italian beatified people People from Udine Venerated Catholics

Life

Beatification

See also

References

External links