Umiliana de' Cerchi (1219 - 19 May 1246) was an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

widow and a member of the

Third Order of Saint Francis The Third Order of Saint Francis is a third order in the Franciscan tradition of Christianity, founded by the medieval Catholic Church in Italy, Italian Catholic friar Francis of Assisi. The preaching of Francis and his disciples caused many ma ...

. She came from the

Cerchi family The Florentine banking family of the Cerchi, minor nobles of the Valdarno, with a seat especially at Acone near Pontassieve, settled in Florence in the early thirteenth century and increased their fortunes. The family became the heads of a conso ...

, prominent merchants, and was married in her mid-adolescence as part of a political alliance that her ambitious father had engineered though her husband later died and she fled to become a Franciscan after her father pressured her into accepting a second marriage. Her beatification received approval from

Pope Innocent XII Pope Innocent XII ( la, Innocentius XII; it, Innocenzo XII; 13 March 1615 – 27 September 1700), born Antonio Pignatelli, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 12 July 1691 to his death in September 1700. He ...

on 24 July 1694 after the latter formalized her beatification in the recognition of the late Franciscan's local and enduring veneration.

Life

Umiliana de' Cerchi was born in

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 an ...

in 1219 to a noble house to the prominent merchant Ulivieri de' Cerchi. Her father had six daughters and twelve sons. Her mother died when she was a child. One of her brothers held important public offices. Another brother was Arrigo and a sister was Ravenna. In her childhood she was prone to undertaking charitable initiatives that sought to benefit the poor and the sick and those that knew her best were firm in their belief that she was being called to the service of

God In monotheism, monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator deity, creator, and principal object of Faith#Religious views, faith.Richard Swinburne, Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Ted Honderich, Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Ox ...

rather than to that of the world. Her ambitious father however aimed for political alliances and the augmentation of the reputation of his name and so promised her in marriage to the nobleman Bonaguisi in 1235. Umiliana submitted to this desire and married him though found he was avaricious and often treated her as a mere servant and she would retaliate with a spirit of meekness and patience. The marriage was more of an economic partnership for her father. In secret she would distribute food and clothes to the poor. She bore two daughters. Her husband fell ill in 1240 and it was she who nursed him before he died at which point she ceded his entire fortune to his relations on the condition that his relatives make restitution for her late husband's injustices. Her two daughters then was received into the home of her late husband's relations for care. Her father was less than impressed with this and later sued her late husband's parents for the return of funds he gave to them at the time of the marriage. Umiliana retreated to her father's home and she later fled when he made repeated attempts to have her enter into a second marriage. The widow soon became a professed member of the

(at the

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 ...

of San Pietro a Monticelli) and henceforth led an austere life of solitude. She never left this solitude save for attending

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...

or going out to visit the poor and the ill. This frustrated and even angered her father who decided to deprive her of whatever she still owned and he succeeded in doing this. Her confessor was the

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

Michele Alberti. Umiliana was not ashamed to go out begging though she never used the alms for herself and instead distributed them to the poor. On one occasion she pleaded with the Lord to transfer the severe pain of an ill person to herself and she was later confined to her bed when the Lord appeared and restored her to health with the

sign of the Cross Making the sign of the cross ( la, signum crucis), or blessing oneself or crossing oneself, is a ritual blessing made by members of some branches of Christianity. This blessing is made by the tracing of an upright cross or + across the body with ...

. The widow also attended frequent Mass at the church of Saint Martin and she fasted on vital liturgical feasts as well as during

Lent Lent ( la, Quadragesima, 'Fortieth') is a solemn religious observance in the liturgical calendar commemorating the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring temptation by Satan, according to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke ...

and

Advent Advent is a Christian season of preparation for the Nativity of Christ at Christmas. It is the beginning of the liturgical year in Western Christianity. The name was adopted from Latin "coming; arrival", translating Greek ''parousia''. In ...

. Her brother Arrigo later became a third order Franciscan following his sister's example. Umiliana fell ill and she knew her end was close. Her confessor was at her bedside as she died in the dawn of 19 May 1246 on a Saturday. Her feet were bandaged before people filed in to view her mortal remains. Her remains were interred in one location though later moved behind a wall near the stairs of the pulpit. Her brother Arrigo arranged for a chapel to in the basilica to receive her remains. A total of 47 miracles were recorded in the period of 1246 to 1249 and she is perceived to be the first cloistered third order Franciscan in Florence. The chapel in the transept of the

Basilica di Santa Croce The (Italian for 'Basilica of the Holy Cross') is the principal Franciscan church in Florence, Italy, and a minor basilica of the Roman Catholic Church. It is situated on the Piazza di Santa Croce, about 800 meters south-east of the Duomo. The ...

is dedicated to her with a silver bust also there. It is also said that she is represented in Taddeo Gaddi's "Tree of Life" also in that same church.

Beatification

The formal ratification of the late Franciscan's local cultus allowed for

on 24 July 1694 to issue a decree that recognized this and thus approved her formal beatification.

References

External links

Saints SQPN
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cerchi, Umiliana de 1219 births 1246 deaths 13th-century people from the Republic of Florence Franciscan beatified people Italian beatified people Italian Franciscans Members of the Third Order of Saint Francis Religious leaders from Florence Beatifications by Pope Innocent XII