Saint Viridiana

Veridiana (Virginia Margaret del Mazziere) (1182 – 1 February 1242) is an Italian saint. Having made pilgrimages to Santiago de Compostela and Rome, she then became an anchoress. Born at Castelfiorentino, Tuscany, of a noble family, the impoverished but still prestigious Attavanti, Verdiana was noted from an early age for her generosity and sense of charity. It is said that one day her uncle had accumulated and resold a certain amount of foodstuffs, the price of which had skyrocketed due to a severe famine. But when the buyer showed up to collect the purchased material, the warehouse turned out to be empty, because in the meantime Verdiana had donated everything to the poor. The only response to her uncle's irritated reaction was the invitation to wait twenty-four hours: effectively the next day God rewarded the girl's charity and confidence by finding the harvest so generously donated intact. She made a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. Upon returning to Castelfiorentino and feeling a desire for solitude and penance, the villagers built her a small cell contiguous to the oratory of San Antonio. From a small window she attended Mass and spoke with the visitors and received donations of food. She remained secluded there for 34 years under the obedience of a Vallumbrosan abbey. Like many recluses of her era, it is not certain whether Verdiana belonged to any particular monastic order. The Dominican order appropriated her after her death through the redaction of her vita, but she probably belonged to none of the mendicant orders during her lifetime. One late account suggests that in 1221 she was visited by Francis of Assisi, who admitted her into his Third Order. It is more likely that she was associated with the local monastery in Castelfiorentino, which belonged to the Vallombrosan order. Even this affiliation, however, most likely occurred after her death, as various monastic orders vied for “possession” of yet another popular saint.