PASITHEA, VIRGIN AND ABBESS

PASITHEA, VIRGIN AND ABBESS - 13 MAY

PASITHEA, VIRGIN AND ABBESS

Pasithea, virgin and superior of the Capuchin nuns of Siena, whose body was found intact in 1657, is listed among the Praetermissi by the Bollandists* (III. 187). Migne* (diction. iconogr.) mentions her with the title "saint," which is erroneous, since Lechner* (Leben der Heil. a. d. O. d. Capuc. [Lives of the Saints of the Capuchin Order] III. 257) mentions her as just a "venerable servant of God."

Her life story is very edifying and wonderful; here a brief summary: She was the daughter of a middle-class couple named Peter and Camilla Crogi, of Siena, and already as a child she had frequent conversations with the saints, who appeared to her regularly. At the age of seven, she took the vow of perpetual chastity. As she grew older, she began to practice severe penance. Although she was nearly always spotted in prayer, kneeling all day long, she did not miss any of the household chores, which observers believed to be the hand of God helping and working for her. Added to this was a great love for the poor, for whom she did the most menial work, washing their feet and ridding them of fleas, lice, etc.

Any one word from Jesus, from heaven, from the angels, brought her into rapture. Once, in great loneliness and desolation, the Saviour appeared to her with his radiant wounds and said: "Daughter, if you do not know where you should live safely and joyfully: your dwelling should be for my open side." She felt wonderfully comforted about that. In her twenty-fifth year she received the stigmata. Because of the overabundance of joy that followed, she could neither eat nor drink from Easter until the feast of the Ascension. In addition to the convent of the Capuchin nuns in her native town, she founded several others. Pasithea went to her eternal reward on May 13, 1615. At her grave miracles on the sick continued to occur, just as she had, by her prayers, performed healings during her earthly life.

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, Volume 4, Augsburg, 1875)

*A hagiography source used by the authors

Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints - Sources and Abbreviations

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

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