The Incorruptibles: A Study of Incorruption in the Bodies of Various Catholic Saints and Beati by Carroll Cruz Joan

Author:Carroll Cruz, Joan
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Spiritual & Religion
ISBN: 9780895559500
Publisher: TAN Books
Published: 2010-08-31T16:00:00+00:00

The body of St. Angela Merici, foundress of the Ursulines (d. 1540), shown in a glass case in the Casa S. Angela in Brescia, Italy.

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Blessed Lucy of Narni

1476–1544

Lucy was the oldest of the 11 children of the treasurer of the community of Narni in Italy. At an early age, she resolved to consecrate herself to God, but after the death of her father, marital arrangements were made, despite her objections. She steadfastly refused to marry the young man, but a year later she consented to marry a certain Count Peter, after being advised to do so by her confessor and encouraged by the Blessed Virgin herself. After three years, the Count gave her the freedom she undoubtedly requested, and she retired to her mother’s house, received the habit of the Dominican Third Order and joined a community of these tertiaries in Rome. After spending a year in this convent, she was sent to found a similar convent of the Order at Viterbo, and three years later, after her 23rd birthday, the Pope commanded her to proceed to Ferrara and establish yet another convent in that city.

After being favored with many miraculous visions and favors, including the gift of prophecy, she was visibly marked with the sacred stigmata and participated in the sufferings of the Passion every Wednesday and Friday. Her condition was examined by many physicians, among them the physician of Pope Alexander VI, and a Franciscan bishop, all of whom were convinced of the genuineness of the prodigy. It is believed that Count Peter also viewed the signs of the Passion and in consequence joined the Friars Minor.

To the sufferings of the Passion were added the bitter pains of persecution from members of her own community. After the death of the Duke of Ferrara, the patron of the convent, some of the sisters whom Lucy had to reprove on occasion, conspired against her and she, the foundress of the community, was deposed as abbess and made to take the lowest position in the community. Denied the privileges of the house, continually mistreated and cruelly neglected during serious illnesses, the Beata was never heard to complain. So completely was she effaced during these 39 years of persecution that when she died, the people of Ferrara were astonished to learn that she had been alive all those years; they had thought her dead years before.

At the time of her entrance into Heaven, angelic voices were heard singing in her cell and the whole house was filled with an extraordinary perfume. The wound in her side was examined at this time and was found dripping with fresh blood. Small cloths soaked with this blood were distributed, and these occasioned many miracles.

The sisters, largely deceived by a few in authority, were amazed at the wonders that attended the sacred body, and regretting their behavior toward their former prioress, undoubtedly prayed with fervent contrition for her blessing and forgiveness.

The stigmatic was accorded a most reverential and solemn funeral, and four years later, for reasons

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