Skip to main content

BL. PAOLA GAMBARA COSTA - 24 JANUARY

 


Paola, of noble blood, born in 1463, desired to become a nun but complied with the desire of her parents to embrace marriage. Herself and her husband Count Lodovico Antonio Costa (the Lord of Benasco) tied the knot in 1485 and the pair travelled to the small Benasco province for the ensuring celebrations. 

She endured her new husband's expensive tastes seeing it as her role to be faithful to him even if she did not live the excessive luxuries. In spring 1486 the couple visited Milan and Alessandria before setting off for Asti. The two also visited Turin where the duke received them. 

Her confessor, Father Carletti, advised her to enroll in the Third Order of Saint Francis while learning to appreciate the poor and to detest the lavishness of the secular world. Paola thus became a religious in 1491 with the permission of her husband. She often deprived herself of food in order to bring it to the sick and on one occasion took off her shoes and gave it to an old woman who walked barefoot over ice and snow during winter.

In 1488 Paola gave birth to her first and only child Giovanni Francesco and named him in honour of Francis of Assisi. Her generosity towards the poor soon annoyed her husband who reproached her for her conduct and ridiculed her in front of their servants. Count Lodovico also took a mistress and allowed her to reside in the castle in 1494 - even though his wife Paola lived there.

In 1495 her son left for Chieri for his education. Father Carletti died on April 11, 1495. She attended his funeral in Cuneo. Her husband's mistress fell ill with abdominal pains and it was Paola who comforted her and forgave her as she died. Her son, now a page, returned to his home and a grand banquet was celebrated for him.

A while later Count Lodovico became ill and Paola began to tend to him. From that time onwards he endorsed her good works and also consented to her wearing the habit of her order in public.  The two travelled to Cuneo to ask for the intercession of her former confessor Father Carletti and when her husband was healed attributed the healing to him. Count Lodovico celebrated yet another banquet in commemoration of this and undertook a pilgrimage to the priest's grave in thanksgiving with his wife at his side. Having repented of his former conduct and reconciled to God, Count Lodovico died in 1504.

On January 14, 1515 Paola was struck with an extreme fever that caused her great pain and she died on January 24, 1515 in the town of Binasco in Milan after having confessed and received the Eucharist for the final time.

Sources:
https://www.santodelgiorno.it/beata-paola-gambara-costa/
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paola_Gambara_Costa
https://www.franciscanthirdorderpenitents.com/penitent-saints-who-lived-rule-of-1221

PRAYER:

Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that the venerable feast of Blessed Paola 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.
































Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

WELCOME

  Please pick your saints: January - Saints by date  1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    10    11    12    13    14    15    16    17   18    19    20    21    22    23    24    25    26    27    28    29    30    31   February - Saints by date  1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    10    11    12    13    14    15    16    17 18    19    20    21    22    23    24    25    26    27    28    29 ...
Post a Comment
Read more

ST JOHN BERCHMANS, RELIGIOUS - 13 AUGUST

  ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN AUGUST Saints celebrated on the 13th of August WELCOME! SAINT JOHN BERCHMANS, RELIGIOUS   (Patron Saint of Altar Servers.) The eldest boy of a poor cordwainer, in a small Belgian town, John was ever a dutiful, prayerful, and studious child. Our Lord called him when but young to leave his father and his father’s house, to serve Him in the Society of Jesus.  And because he was so good a son, it cost his father much to give him up to God; but he was too good a Christian to refuse outright.  HE WAS SENT TO ROME John had hardly taken his religious vows when he was sent to the centre of Christendom, the holy city of Rome. His modesty, his purity, shone out as great virtue always does; and the young laymen who attended the lectures would come to gaze upon his beautiful and holy face, and go away the better for the sight. GREAT VIRTUE Three short years, and his last sickness found him sighing for heaven, and three days before the great feast of Mar...
Post a Comment
Read more

ST LAURA OF CORDOBA, WIDOW AND MARTYR - 19 OCTOBER

  ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN OCTOBER Saints celebrated on the 19th of October WELCOME! SAINT LAURA OF CORDOBA, WIDOW AND MARTYR   Laura, a widow and martyr of  Cordoba  in Spain, is mentioned in the Spanish martyrology of Tamajode Salazar, who refers to Luitprand, where it says the following: St Laura is said to have been of a noble family, and  according to the wishes of her parents she married an equally noble man and gave birth to two daughters.  After the death of her husband and her daughters, she went to the monastery of St Aurea, named St-Maria de Cuteclara, and after her martyrdom led the same for nine years as her successor.  After she had made wonderful progress in all virtues, she was finally summoned to renounce the faith before a Saracen judge. But since she remained steadfast, she was first beaten very cruelly and then thrown into a bath of boiling pitch, where she remained in praise of God for three hours and then flew to heaven on October...
Post a Comment
Read more