Blessed Seraphina Sforza

Sveva da Montefeltro (1434 – 8 September 1478) was an Italian beatified nun and noblewoman of the House of Montefeltro. She is venerated by the Catholic Church for her life of devotion despite the hardships she encountered. After an arranged marriage at the age of fourteen to Alessandro Sforza, lord of Pesaro, Sveva became known as Sveva Sforza. Some years later, Alessandro, himself carrying on a public affair with another woman, accused Sveva of adultery and plotting to kill him. He forced her to enter a convent of the Poor Clare order; there she took the name Seraphina (or Serafina), and later became abbess. She was beatified by Pope Benedict XIV in 1754, and has been venerated since, especially by Franciscans. Sveva da Montefeltro was born in the city-state of Urbino, located in present-day Italy, in the first half of 1434. She was the daughter of Caterina Colonna, a niece of Pope Martin V, and Guido Antonio of Montefeltro, Count of Urbino. Her mother died in 1438, followed by her father in 1443. Sveva's older brother, Oddantonio da Montefeltro, succeeded his father as Count and cared for Seraphina until his assassination in 1444. The next Count was Sveva's half-brother, Federico da Montefeltro, who in turn became her guardian. In March 1446, the 12-year-old Sveva was implicated in Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta's plot to murder Federico. The other conspirators were executed, and Sveva was sent to Rome to stay with her maternal uncle, Cardinal Prospero Colonna. In 1448, Cardinal Colonna arranged a marriage between the 14-year-old Sveva and Alessandro Sforza, lord of the city-state Pesaro. Alessandro was a widower with two children from his previous marriage (Battista and Costanzo) and two illegitimate daughters (Ginevra and Antonia). The couple were married by proxy on 9 January 1448, and a few months later Sveva traveled to Pesaro to join her new husband. Guglielmo Ebreo da Pesaro dedicated a ballo he choreographed for Sveva in honor of the wedding.