Saint Magdalena de Pazzi

Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi, OCarm (Italian: Maria Maddalena de' Pazzi; born Caterina Lucrezia de' Pazzi; 2 April 1566 – 25 May 1607), was an Italian Carmelite nun and mystic. She has been declared a saint by the Catholic Church. De' Pazzi was born at Florence, Italy, on 2 April 1566, to Camillo di Geri de' Pazzi, a member of one of the wealthiest and most distinguished noble families of Renaissance Florence, and Maria Buondelmonti. She was christened Caterina Lucrezia, but in the family, she was called by her second name, out of respect for her paternal grandmother, Lucrezia Mannucci. At the age of nine, de' Pazzi was taught how to meditate by the family chaplain, using a contemporary work explaining how one should meditate on the Passion of Christ. Years later, this book was one of the items she brought with her to the monastery. Around the age of nine, she also began practicing mortification of the flesh through self-flagellation, wearing a barbed metal cilice, and wearing a home-made crown of thorns. She received her First Communion at the then-early age of 10 and made a vow of virginity the same year. She was in her mother's presence when she experienced her first ecstasy at the age of 12. From that point on, she continued to experience mystical experiences. In 1580, at the age of fourteen, de' Pazzi was sent by her father to be educated at a monastery of nuns of the Order of Malta, but she was soon called home to marry a young nobleman. Caterina told her father of her vow to remain chaste, and he eventually relented and allowed her to enter monastic life instead of marrying. She chose to enter the Carmelite monastery of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Florence because the rule allowed her to receive Holy Communion daily. On 30 January 1583, she was accepted as a novice in that community, and she took the religious name of Sister Mary Magdalene. De' Pazzi had been a novice for a year when she became critically ill.