BL. JOAN OF BAGNO, VIRGIN - 16 JANUARY

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN JANUARY

Saints celebrated on the 16th of January

BLESSED JOAN OF BAGNO, VIRGIN

A page of one of Fortunatus Hueber's
Saints' books,
"Stammenbuch..." (1693)

According to some sources, Blessed Joan (Johanna) was born at Saint Maria in Bagno (S. Mariae in Balneo), a town in Tuscany situated on the Savio (ad Sapin), but according to others at Fontechiuso (Fons clausus) in Tuscany. She did definitely not come from Baja in southern Italy, as Lechner* and others say, and neither did she first see the light of day in Bagnarea (Balneoregium) in the Papal States, as others think, and as is also erroneously stated in the old Saints Lexicon*. 

Blessed Joan led a holy life as a lay sister in the Camaldolese monastery of Saint Lucia near Bagno and died in A.D. 1100 or 1105. Once she drove out the plague through the power of her intercession. When she died, the church bells began to toll on their own accord. The miracles by which the Lord glorified her after her death won her the veneration of the people. 

Following the destruction of the monastery of Saint Lucia, her mortal remains were transferred to the city of Bagno itself. According to Bucelin*, who gives Joan the title "saint", a translation of her relics took place on May 1, 1287. Her remains were moved once more in 1506.

Migne* relates that in 1823, Pope Pius VII confirmed Joan's immemorial veneration. Additionally, Migne* lists a blessed Joan (Johanna) on January 16, who is also a lay sister, of Fontechiuso, but originally a Valombrosan. This is most likely an error. The Bollandists*, however, do not mention a second Blessed Joan but just the one holy sister of that name - on January 16. (II. 59.)

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, Volume 3, Augsburg, 1869, p. 187)

*A hagiography source used by the authors 

Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints - Sources and Abbreviations

PRAYER:

Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that the venerable feast of the blessed Joan may increase our devotion and promote our salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.