BL. EUSTOCHIUM, ABBESS OF MONTE VERGINE

BL. EUSTOCHIUM, ABBESS OF MONTE VERGINE - 20 JANUARY

BLESSED EUSTOCHIUM, ABBESS OF MONTE VERGINE

Blessed Eustochium (Smaragda) was born in A.D. 1430 at Messina in eastern Sicily. Her father was of the noble family of Calafato, and her mother a

neé Colonna. She excelled in virtue and beauty, therefore several rich and noble Sicilians asked her hand in marriage, but in vain, because Eustochium had made up her mind to remain in the virgin state for love of Jesus, whom she had chosen as her bridegroom.

After she had withstood the demands of her parents for some time, unswervingly but but with childlike modesty, and even endured mistreatment from them (in their attempt to make her change her mind) with wonderful patience, she eventually received permission to enter the monastery of Saint Clara in Bassincano.

Here she soon became a model for all her sisters in religion. Later she received permission from Pope Calixtus III to found a new nunnery in which the holy Rule would be observed in all its severity. Of the new religious house, called the "Jungfrauenberg" (Monte Vergine), Eustochium became the abbess.

She had the tenderest veneration towards the Blessed Sacrament and the Most Holy Virgin Mary. She died on January 20, 1484. Because of the miracles that had taken place at her grave, she soon enjoyed public veneration, which Pope Pius VI approved. Her festival is now also celebrated on February 27 or 28, says Butler* (X. 443). The Bollandists* call her "Smaragda" and, citing from an old source, state that her death occurred in the year 1491, adding that on August 22, according to a Sicilian martyrology, a public veneration of the intact body of the blessed had taken place. (Jan. II. 251. Aug. IV. 488)

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, Volume 2, Augsburg, 1861, p. 134)

*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 Eustochium 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.

Sources of these articles (in the original German): books.google.co.uk, de-academic.com, zeno.org, openlibrary.org

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