Camilla Pio di Savoia (c. 1440 – 1504) was born an Italian noblewoman and later founded the first female monastery in Carpi, Italy, Santa Chiara, of which she was elected abbess. Her ''Cause for Canonization'' has been opened.

Life

Camilla was born into a noble family in

Carpi Carpi may refer to: Places * Carpi, Emilia-Romagna, a large town in the province of Modena, central Italy * Carpi (Africa), a city and former diocese of Roman Africa, now a Latin Catholic titular bishopric People * Carpi (people), an ancie ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

as the daughter of Giberto I Pio and Elisabetta Migliorati. Because she belonged to the Pio family, the lords of Carpi, she was second cousin to the prince, Alberto III Pio. Camilla was considered a cultured and devoted woman when, in 1471, she received a substantial inheritance from her paternal aunt Margherita Pio, the second wife and widow of the

condottiere ''Condottieri'' (; singular ''condottiero'' or ''condottiere'') were Italian captains in command of mercenary companies during the Middle Ages and of multinational armies during the early modern period. They notably served popes and other Europe ...

Taddeo d'Este Taddeo d'Este (ca. 1390 – 21 June 1448) was a ''condottiere'', a freelance military leader, who was known for his defense of the Republic of Venice in 1439 against Milanese forces under Niccolò Piccinino. Unlike many other ''condottieri'' ...

. Camilla took that opportunity to pursue a cloistered life and decided to establish the first female monastery in Carpi dedicated to St. Clare (in Italian: Santa Chiara). To begin, Camilla obtained a Papal bull with the authorization of

Pope Innocent VIII Pope Innocent VIII ( la, Innocentius VIII; it, Innocenzo VIII; 1432 – 25 July 1492), born Giovanni Battista Cybo (or Cibo), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 29 August 1484 to his death in July 1492. Son of th ...

in 1490, and immediately began to build a church and monastery. During construction, she moved into an adjacent house to live a more monastic life with some female companions. By giving up court life to live in poverty, following the example of

Saint Clare of Assisi Clare of Assisi (born Chiara Offreduccio and sometimes spelled Clara, Clair, Claire, Sinclair; 16 July 1194 – 11 August 1253) was an Italian saint and one of the first followers of Francis of Assisi. She founded the Order of Poor Ladies, ...

, Camilla became considered holy; the place where they lived was popularly known as a monastery. In 1494 Alberto Pio and his cousin Giberto II, co-lords of Carpi, gave Camilla a large landed property, the Cassina (500 biolche of land) north of Carpi, and allowed her to incorporate a road into the monastery's garden, so the nuns would have a large green space for meditation, in addition to the cloister. With the completion of monastery construction in 1500, Camilla officially joined the Poor Clare Nuns as a novice together with the other sisters who already lived with her and Violante Pio, sister of Giberto II. Camilla was elected abbess and she died there only four years later, 15 April 1504 of natural causes. The monastery that Camilla founded is still active; in a chapel of the church of Santa Chiara it is possible to see her

incorrupt Incorruptibility is a Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox belief that divine intervention allows some human bodies (specifically saints and beati) to completely or partially avoid the normal process of decomposition after death as a sign of their ...

remains. Several prodigies and miracles have been credited to her and among some Franciscan martyrologists, she is already called "Blessed." The beatification process, closed in the diocesan phase, is still ongoing at the Congregation of Saints in Rome. A street in the municipality of Carpi, Via Camilla Pio, is named after her.

References

External links

Le Clarisse in Carpi: cinque secoli di storia (XVI-XX). Italy, Diabasis, 2003. (in Italian)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pio di Savoia, Camilla 1440 births 1504 deaths 15th-century Italian Roman Catholic religious sisters and nuns 16th-century Italian Roman Catholic religious sisters and nuns 15th-century Italian nobility