BL. GHERARDESCA OF PISA - 29 MAY

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN MAY

Saints celebrated on the 29th of May

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BLESSED GHERARDESCA OF PISA

Blessed Gherardesca (Gerardesca). After a period of relative obscurity, interest in this holy lady was revived by the Bollandists*, who published a detailed description of her life based on the sources available. 

The names and circumstances of Blessed Gherardesca's parents, as well as her place and time of birth, are unknown. So much is known, however, that she got married because her mother urged her to. She was, as the apostolic prescription states, "holy in all," but remained childless. 

When the pious woman realised that there was no longer any hope of conceiving fruit of the womb, she persuaded her husband to enter the Camaldolese monastery in Pisa. She herself spent the rest of her life, not as a hermit, but as a tertiary in a cell near the monastery church in the same city.

God showed her many graces here. She often fell into raptures and saw past and future events as present: Gherardesca was thus shown the annunciation of the birth of our Lord, the end of things, the place of purification, the resurrection of the dead and the last judgement. Because her statements appear to have been embellished by the former biographer, however, they had not received any kind of ecclesiastical confirmation. 

The year and day of her death are unknown. But she seems to have still been alive in A.D. 1240. She rests in the St. Savinus Church in Pisa and some of the older calendars list her as "Saint Gherardesca."

The Bollandists* in their work provide a picture of her in the Savinus Church in Pisa; she is wearing the habit of the Camaldolese, her head covered with a black veil instead of the hood. Her head is surrounded by a halo. (VII. 164–180.)

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, Volume 2, Augsburg, 1861, p. 393)

*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 Blessed Gherardesca 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