Blessed Paola Gambara Costa

Paola Gambara Costa (3 March 1463 - 24 January 1515) was an Italian Roman Catholic professed member of the Third Order of Saint Francis. She was born to nobles and married in 1475 to the nobleman Lodovico Antonio Costa - and had one child - who soon acquired a mistress and chastised her for her generous nature towards the poor and ill. Her husband later repented and died leaving her widowed and she died not long after this. Gambara desired to become a nun but complied with the desire of her parents to embrace marriage and so dedicated herself to serving her husband while at the same time learning to detest his excessive lavishness and the pomp of his noble court. Her friend and confessor was Angelo Carletti whom she and her husband later attributed the latter's cure to. Her beatification received formal confirmation from Pope Gregory XVI on 14 August 1845 after the latter ratified that there existed a spontaneous and enduring local 'cultus' - or longstanding and popular veneration. Paola Gambara Costa was born on 3 March 1463 in Brescia as the first of seven children to the nobles Giampaolo Gambara and Taddea Caterina Martinengo. Her following siblings included: In her childhood she delighted in spiritual reading and reflection on the Gospel and harbored an ardent desire to become a nun later in life. But this dream was cut short when her parents decided to arrange her marriage to Count Lodovico Antonio Costa - the Lord of Benasco - and she saw this as the will of God manifesting itself and so complied with the wishes of her parents. Her confessor prior to her marriage was Father Andrea da Quinzano of the Sant'Apollonio convent in Brescia. The marriage came about after Count Bongiovanni Costa visited her parents and was struck with her virtue and so wanted her as his nephew Lodovico Antonio's wife.