Pietro Lorenzetti (1280–1348), Pala de
sainte Humilité, circa 1340, galerie des Offices
Pietro Lorenzetti, Polittico della beata Umiltà, 1335 - 1340 circa, tempera e oro su tavola, 226 x 185, Uffizi, Firenze
Pietro
Lorenzetti, Polittico della beata Umiltà, 1335 - 1340
circa, tempera e oro su tavola, 226 x 185, Uffizi, Firenze
Pietro Lorenzetti (1280–1348), Beata
Umiltà Altarpiece / Saint Humility, 1340 circa, Uffizi
Gallery
Pietro
Lorenzetti, Polittico della beata Umiltà, 1335 - 1340
circa, tempera e oro su tavola, 226 x 185, Uffizi, Firenze
Pietro Lorenzetti (1280–1348), Beata Umiltà Altarpiece / Saint Humility, 1340 circa, Uffizi Gallery
Bienheureuse Humilité de
Faenza
Ermite puis fondatrice
d'un monastère (+ 1310)
Née Rosanna Negusanti en
1226 à Faenza en Italie, par obéissance envers ses parents et contre son gré,
elle épousa Ugolotto. Au bout de quelques années, elle obtint de lui de se
séparer pour vivre d'abord comme recluse près de Faenza puis s'en alla fonder à
Florence un couvent affilié à Vallombreuse. Elle prit le nom d'Umiltà. C'est là
qu'elle participa à la Passion du Christ en lui offrant ses souffrances et sa
vie.
A lire aussi: Santa
Umiltà - Badessa Vallombrosana - en italien
À Florence, en Toscane,
l’an 1310, sainte Humilité, qui, avec l’accord de son mari, vécut douze ans en
recluse, puis, à la demande de l’évêque, fut mise à la tête de moniales dans un
nouveau monastère de la Congrégation de Vallombreuse.
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/1198/Bienheureuse-Humilite-de-Faenza.html
Bienheureuse Humilité
Bénédictine
Vallombrosienne
Fête le 22 mai
Faenza 1226 – † Florence
22 mai 1310
Autre graphie :
[Rosanese] Sœur Umiltà
Née à Faenza, en
Émilie-Romagne, elle entra au monastère Sainte-Perpétue, dans le voisinage de
la ville, après la mort de ses deux fils. Quelques années plus tard, elle se
fit recluse près de l’église Saint-Apollinaire, à Faenza, jeûnant, pratiquant
des mortifications sévères et dormant à genoux. Au bout de douze années de
cette vie, l’évêque de la ville lui demanda de fonder un monastère et d’en
devenir abbesse : ce nouveau monastère, établi à proximité de Faenza,
s’affilia à l’ordre de Vallombreuse. Sainte Humilité mourut le 22 mai 1310.
SOURCE : http://www.martyretsaint.com/humilite/
Pietro Lorenzetti (1280–1348), Miracolo
del ghiaccio, circa 1340, 42 x 32, Gemäldegalerie Berlin
Also
known as
Rosanna
Humilitas
Umiltà
Profile
Born to a wealthy
family. Married at
age 15 to a nobleman named Ugoletto. Mother of
two, both of whom died in infancy.
In 1250 Ugoletto
was nearly killed,
an event made both of them examine their lives and enter the double
monastery of Saint Perpetua
near Faenza, Italy,
Ugoletto as a lay-brother,
Rosanna as a nun,
taking the name Sister Humility. Spiritual student of Saint Crispin.
Lived as a hermitess in
a cell for
twelve years near the church of Saint Apollinaris.
Founded the convent of
Santa Maria Novella on Malta,
the first Vallombrosan convent for nuns, and
served as its abbess.
Founded a second convent at Florence, Italy,
and lived her remaining years there.
Born
1226 at Faenza, Italy as Rosanna
22 May 1310 at Florence, Italy of
natural causes
27 January 1720 by Pope Clement XI
in Italy
Additional
Information
A
Garner of Saints, by Allen Banks Hinds, M.A.
Saints
of the Day, by Katherine Rabenstein
books
Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
Saints
and Their Attributes, by Helen Roeder
other
sites in english
sitios
en español
Martirologio Romano, 2001 edición
fonti
in italiano
nettsteder
i norsk
MLA
Citation
“Saint Humility“. CatholicSaints.Info.
20 February 2024. Web. 6 June 2026. <https://catholicsaints.info/saint-humility/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-humility/
St. Humilitas
Feastday: March 22
Patron: of Faenza
Birth: 1226
Death: 1310
Vallumbrosan foundress,
also called Rosanna or Humility. She was born in Faenza, Italy, and was married
at the age of fifteen. Nine years later, after their two children had
died in infancy, her husband became a monk upon
recovering from a serious illness. Humilitas received the veil and lived as a
recluse until she was asked to found two Vallumbrosan convents, which she governed.
SOURCE : https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=3817
Humility of Faenza, OSB
Vall. Widow (AC)
(also known as Humilitas,
Rosanna)
Born in Faenza, Romagna,
Italy, in 1226; died in Florence, Italy, May 22, 1310. Humility was born to
wealthy parents and baptized Rosanna. She longed to enter a convent from her
earliest years, to model herself on Saint John and the Blessed Virgin who stood
by Jesus on the Cross. But when she was 15 her parents insisted instead that
she marry a nobleman named Ugoletto. He was apparently frivolous and uncaring,
mocking his bride's spiritual ways. Her sorrows were increased when the two
boys she bore died in infancy.
After a near-fatal
illness of Ugoletto when Rosanna was 24, her husband was brought to conversion
of heart. Chastened, he agreed to allow Rosanna to enter a convent. They chose
a mixed monastery- -Saint Perpetua at Faenza--where he went to live as a
brother and she as a sister, taking the name Humility.
Soon she decided that she
needed even more discipline than the rules of the convent demanded. One of her
relatives built her a cell against the wall of the church of Saint Apollinaris.
A hole was cut into the wall, so that she could follow the services inside the
church. Then she was bricked into her cell.
Her spiritual welfare was
in the care of Vallombrosan monks of Saint Crispin Abbey. Each day she ate only
bread and water and sometimes a few herbs. She slept on her knees, her head
resting against the wall.
After 12 years of this
life, she was persuaded to leave her cell by the master general of the
Vallombrosan order, who begged her to become abbess of the first Vallombrosan
convent, Santa Maria Novella at Malta, near Faenza. She helped to found this
nunnery at Faenza, before becoming abbess of the second one in Florence. And,
in spite of her heroic fasting and savagely austere life, she lived to be 80
years old (Benedictines, Bentley, Delaney).
In art, Saint Humilitas
is a Vallombrosian nun in a black veil, white wimple, and grey-brown habit with
a lambskin over her head (Roeder).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0521.shtml
A Garner of Saints
– Saint Umilita
Article
(Latin: Humilitas; French
Humilité) Born at Faenza of a noble family, her secular name being Rosana, and
brought up in piety. Her beauty was very great and won for her the love of a
prince who was a close kinsman of the Emperor Frederick II and who happened to
be in garrison there. She succeeded in escaping this alliance, but after her
father’s death she was married to Ugolotto Caccianemici. Desiring, however, to
take up a religious life, she endeavoured to persuade her husband to consent to
a separation, but he always refused. After they had been married nine years
Ugolotto fell sick and the doctors declared that he could not recover unless he
would remain celibate. This opened the eyes of the sick man, and calling his
wife to him he consented to what she had so often proposed. After his recovery,
Rosana went to the monastery of Saint Perpetua at Faenza and took the veil as a
nun of the order of Vallombroso. By her constant prayers and devotions she at
length prevailed so that Ugolotto became a monk and entered the same order.
Meanwhile the fervent piety and humility of Rosana earned her the name of
Umilita, by which she was afterwards known. Soon afterwards she proved in a
signal manner her right to the new name. The nobles of that day being more
devoted to arms than to letters, she had never learned to read. The nuns
wishing to have a joke at her expense, one day sent her to the second table to
read. The simple nun bowed and went to obey the command. When she opened the
book, these words presented themselves to her, “Do not despise the works of God
for they are all true and just.” Then raising her eyes to heaven she delivered
such a moving address from this text, that her auditors were at first amazed
and afterwards wept. When they came to examine the book they could not find a
single word of what she had said. Being taught to read, she learned with
wonderful readiness. She suffered silently for some time from an internal
tumour, but it was one day miraculously healed. These events caused her to be
held in such veneration by the nuns that she was in danger of becoming puffed
up, and she determined to flee from the monastery. She prayed fervently for her
release and one night she heard a voice which called her to follow. She rose
and putting on the poor and worn clothing of a servant, with no other luggage
but her breviary, and making the sign of the cross, she was carried by
invisible hands to the top of the wall and let down on the other side. The
closed doors of the courtyard opened of themselves and she found herself free.
Arrived at the river Lamone she found it so swollen that she could not cross.
But by a miracle she was enabled to walk over the water with dry feet. Overcome
by these marvels she fell on her knees and wept her thanks to the Lord. Arrived
in the Apennines she sought refuge with some nuns of Saint Clare. But the
abbess would not admit her until she had learned the reasons for her departure
from Saint Perpetua. A knight of her family wishing to know if the portents
wrought by her had not been worked by magic art, shut her up in a cell, and
thus she gained her longed-for solitude. Now there was a monk of Vallombroso
whose leg the physicians had determined to cut off. The poor man, terrified at
this, asked first to be taken to Umilita. When he came, his hopes were not
disappointed, for she made the sign of the cross over the diseased limb and it
was made perfectly whole, and the monk returned without assistance to his convent,
publishing the matter abroad. After this a cell was built for Umilita next to
the church of Saint Apollinare at Faenza, and she lived there as a hermit. In
this solitude she had the companionship of a charming little weasel, which came
to her cell with a bell round its neck, and remained with her, following her in
all her devotions and other acts. When the time of her solitude drew towards
its close, the animal leapt out of the window of her cell, a bell fell from its
neck and it bowed her farewell. Thefame of her sanctity drew many to see her,
and at length a monastery was built for her, and the Bishop of Faenza came to
take her to her new abode. Her reputation spread far and wide, and messengers
came from Venice, begging her to found a house of her order in that city. She
accepted, but in the night Saint John the Evangelist appeared to her saying
that the monastery must be founded at Florence not at Venice, and be dedicated
to himself. The route was diflicult and infested by robbers, but Umilita set out
undismayed at the head of her nuns, to walk barefooted to Florence. The journey
was performed in perfect safety, and the saint established herself at Florence
in a small hospice on the piazza of San Ambrogio. The Florentines, recognising
her worth, speedily set to work to build a convent worthy of her. The child of
a noble citizen having died in the arms of its nurse as she was bringing it to
its parents in Florence, the nurse met Umilita and threw herself at the saint’s
feet, imploring assistance. The saint, who was returning to her house with a
burden of stones, laid the child at the foot of a wayside image of John the
Baptist. After she had prayed, she made the sign of the cross on the child with
a lighted candle, and it arose perfectly healed. In December 1309, Umilita was
seized with a fit of apoplexy. She lingered on a few months and died in May
1310. Before her death she appeared miraculously to the nuns of her order in a
monastery in the Apennines. 22nd
May.
Attributes
Habit of an abbess of the
order of the Benedictines of Vallombroso. In one hand she holds a rod or bunch
of rods, in the other an open book.
MLA
Citation
Allen Banks Hinds, M.A.
“Saint Umilita”. A Garner of Saints, 1900. CatholicSaints.Info.
26 April 2017. Web. 6 June 2026.
<https://catholicsaints.info/a-garner-of-saints-saint-umilita/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/a-garner-of-saints-saint-umilita/
Vallumbrosan Order
The name is derived from
the motherhouse, Vallombrosa (Latin Vallis umbrosa, shady valley),
situated 20 miles from Florence on the northwest slope of Monte Secchieta in
the Pratomagno chain, 3140 feet above the sea.
The founder
St. John Gualbert, son of
the noble Florentine Gualbert Visdomini, was born in 985 (or 995), and died at Passignano,
12 July, 1073, on which day his feast is kept; he
was canonized in
1193. One of his relatives having been murdered, it became
his duty to
avenge the deceased. He met the murderer in a narrow lane and was about to slay
him, but when the man threw himself upon the ground with arms outstretched in
the form of a cross, he pardoned him for the love of Christ. On his way home,
he entered the Benedictine Church
at San Miniato to pray, and the figure on
the crucifix bowed its head to him in recognition of his generosity. This story
forms the subject of Burne-Jones's picture "The Merciful Knight", and
has been adapted by Shorthouse in "John Inglesant". John Gualbert
became a Benedictine at San Miniato, but left
that monastery to
lead a more perfect life. His attraction was for the cenobitic not eremitic life, so
after staying for some time with the monks at Camaldoli,
he settled at Vallombrosa, where he founded his monastery. Mabillon places the
foundation a little before 1038. Here it is said he and his first companions
lived for some years as hermits, but this is
rejected by Martène as inconsistent with his reason for leaving Camaldoli.
The chronology of
the early days of Vallombrosa has been much disputed. The dates given for the
founder's conversion vary between 1004 and 1039, and a recent Vallumbrosan
writer places his arrival at Vallombrosa as early as 1008. We reach surer
ground with the consecration of
the church by Bl. Rotho, Bishop of Paderborn, in 1038, and
the donation by Itta, Abbess of
the neighbouring monastery of
Sant' Ellero, of the site of the new foundation in 1039. The abbess retained the
privilege of nominating the superiors, but this right was granted to the monks by Victor II,
who confirmed the order in 1056. Two centuries later, in the time of Alexander IV, the nunnery was united
to Vallombrosa in spite of the protests of the nuns.
The holy lives of the
first monks at
Vallombrosa attracted considerable attention and brought many requests for new
foundations, but there were few postulants, since few
could endure the extraordinary austerity of the life. Thus only one other monastery, that of San
Salvi at Florence,
was founded during this period. But when the founder had mitigated his rule
somewhat, three more monasteries were
founded and three others reformed and united to the order during his lifetime.
In the struggle of the popes against simony the early
Vallumbrosans took a considerable part, of which the most famous incident is
the ordeal by fire undertaken successfully by St. Peter Igneus in
1068 (see Delarc, op. cit.). Shortly before this the monastery of S.
Salvi had been burned and the monks ill-treated
by the anti-reform party. These events still further increased the repute of
Vallombrosa.
Development of the order
After the founder's death
the order spread rapidly. A Bull of Urban II in 1090,
which takes Vallombrosa under the protection of the Holy See, enumerates
fifteen monasteries besides
the motherhouse. Twelve more are mentioned in a Bull of Paschal II
in 1115, and twenty-four others in those of Anastasius IV (1153) and Adrian IV (1156).
By the time of Innocent
III they numbered over sixty. All were situated in Italy, except two monasteries in Sardinia. About 1087 Bl.
Andrew of Vallombrosa (d. 1112) founded the monastery of
Cornilly in the Diocese
of Orléans, and in 1093 the Abbey of Chezal-Benoît, which became later the
head of a considerable Benedictine congregation.
There is no ground for the legend given by some writers of the order of a great
Vallumbrosan Congregation in France with
an abbey near Paris, founded by St.
Louis. The Vallumbrosan Congregation was reformed in the middle of the
fifteenth century by Cassinese Benedictines, and again
by Bl. John Leonardi at the beginning of the seventeenth century. In 1485
certain abbeys with
that of San Salvi at Florence at their head, which had formed a separate
congregation, were reunited to the motherhouse by Innocent VIII. At the
beginning of the sixteenth century an attempt was made by Abbot-General
Milanesi to found a house of studies on university lines at
Vallombrosa; but in 1527 the monastery was
burned by the troops of Charles V. It was
rebuilt by Abbot Nicolini in 1637, and in 1634 an observatory was established.
From 1662-80 the order was united to the Sylvestrines. In
1808 Napoleon's troops
plundered Vallombrosa, and the monastery lay
deserted till 1815. It was finally suppressed by the Italian Government in
1866. A few monks remain
to look after the church and meteorological station, but the abbey buildings
have become a school of
forestry founded in 1870 on the German model, the only one of its kind in Italy. Vallombrosa is
also a health resort.
The decline of the order
may be ascribed to the hard fate of the motherhouse, to commendams, and
to the perpetual wars which
ravaged Italy.
Practically all the surviving monasteries were
suppressed during the course of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The
present Vallumbrosan monasteries,
besides Vallombrosa itself, are: Passignano, where St. John Gualbert is buried;
S. Trinità at Florence,
where the abbot-general resides; Sta Prassede, in Rome; Galloro in
the Diocese of
Albano, with the sanctuary of Bl. Benedict Ricasoli (d. 1107); and the
celebrated sanctuary of Montessoro in the Diocese of Leghorn. The
modern monastery of
Signol near Loriol, Drôme, France, was suppressed
by the Ferry laws in
1880. The present abbot-general is Fedele Tarani. The monks now number
about 100. The shield of the order shows the founder's arm in a tawny-coloured
cowl grasping a golden crutch-shaped crozier on a blue
ground. The services rendered by the order have been mostly in the field of
asceticism. Besides the Vallumbrosan saints alluded to
in other parts of this article there may also be mentioned: Bl.
Veridiana, anchoress (1208-42);
Bl. Giovanni Dalle Celle (feast, 10 March); the lay brother Melior
(1 Aug.). By the middle of the seventeenth century the order had supplied
twelve cardinals and
more than 30 bishops.
F. E. Hugford (1696-1771), born at Florence of English parents, is well known
as one of the chief promoters of the art of scagliola (imitation of
marble in plaster). Abbot-General Tamburini's works on canon law are well
known. Galileo was
for a time a novice at
Vallombrosa and received part of his education there.
Rule
St. John adopted the Rule of St. Benedict but
added greatly to its austerity and penitential character. His idea was to unite
the ascetic advantages of the eremitic life to a
life in community, while avoiding the dangers of the former. Severe scourging
was inflicted for any breach of rule, silence was perpetual, poverty most
severely enforced. The rule of enclosure was so strict that the monks might not go
out even on an errand of mercy. The main point of divergence lay in the
prohibition of the manual work, which is prescribed by St. Benedict. St. John's
choir monks were
to be pure contemplatives and to this end he introduced the system of
lay-brothers who were to attend to the secular business. He was among the first
to systematize this institution, and it is probable that it was largely
popularized by the Vallumbrosans. The term conversi (lay brothers) occurs for
the first time in Abbot Andrew of Strumi's Life of St. John, written at the
beginning of the twelfth century. The Vallumbrosans do not, strictly speaking,
form a separate order, but a Benedictine congregation,
though they are not united to the confederated congregations of the Black
Monks. The oldest extant manuscript of the
customs of Vallombrosa shows a close relationship with those of Cluny. The
Vallumbrosans should be regarded only as Benedictines who followed
the customs observed at that time by the Black Benedictines throughout Europe. "Horror
of simony was
a special bond between them and Cluny, and it was only special circumstances
which caused them later to be looked upon as a peculiar institute within
the Benedictine order"
(Albers, op. cit. infra). The habit, originally grey, then tawny coloured,
is now that of the Black Monks. The abbots were
originally elected for life but are now elected at the general chapter, held
every four years. The Abbot of
Vallombrosa, the superior of the whole order, had formerly a seat in the
Florentine Senate and bore the additional title of Count of Monte Verde and Gualdo.
Nuns
Shortly after the founder's death we find attached to the monastery of Vallombrosa lay sisters who, under the charge of an aged lay brother, lived in a separate house and performed various household duties. This institute survived for less than a century, but when they ceased to be attached to the monasteries of monks, these sisters probably continued to lead a conventual life. Bl. Bertha (d. 1163) entered the Vallumbrosan Order at Florence and reformed the convent of Cavriglia in 1153. St. Umiltà is usually regarded as the foundress of the Vallumbrosan Nuns. She was born at Faenza about 1226, was married, but with the consent of her husband, who became a monk, entered a monastery of canonesses and afterwards became an anchoress in a cell attached to the Vallumbrosan church of Faenza, where she lived for twelve years. At the request of the abbot-general she then founded a monastery outside Faenza and became its abbess. In 1282 she founded a second convent at Florence, where she died in 1310. She left a number of mystical writings. In 1524 the nuns obtained the Abbey of S. Salvi, Florence. There are still Vallumbrosan nunneries at Faenza and S. Gimignano, besides two at Florence. The relics of Bl. Umiltà and her disciple Bl. Margherita are venerated at the convent of Spirito Santo at Varlungo. The habit is similar to that of the Benedictine Nuns.
Webster, Douglas
Raymund. "Vallumbrosan Order." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol.
15. New York: Robert Appleton
Company, 1912. <https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15262a.htm>.
Transcription. This
article was transcribed for New Advent by Elizabeth T. Knuth. Dedicated to
Anselm Hastings, O.S.B.
Ecclesiastical
approbation. Nihil Obstat. October 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D.,
Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Copyright © 2026 by New Advent LLC.
Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
SOURCE : https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15262a.htm
Pietro Lorenzetti (1280–1348), Guarigione
di una monaca, Pala della
beata Umiltà, 1340 circa, 45 x 55, Gemäldegalerie Berlin
Santa Umiltà Badessa
Vallombrosana
Faenza, 1226 – Firenze,
22 maggio 1310
Rosanna Negusanti, nata a
Faenza nel 1226, sposò 15enne Ugonotto dei Caccianemici. Ebbero due bimbi,
morti entrambi in fasce. I due abbracciarono la vita religiosa. Lei, assunto il
nome di Umiltà, entrò nel monastero vallombrosano di Sant'Apollinare. Alcune
donne la presero a maestra e la seguirono a Vallombrosa. Ispirò la loro regola
a quella di san Giovanni Gualberto. Morì nel 1310 a Firenze, dove fondò il
Monastero delle Donne di Faenza. Riposa nel convento dello Spirito Santo a
Varlungo (Fi). (Avvenire)
Martirologio Romano: A
Firenze, beata Umiltà (Rosanna), che, con il consenso del marito, visse dodici
anni come reclusa; su richiesta del vescovo, poi, costruì un monastero di cui
divenne badessa e che associò all’Ordine di Vallombrosa.
La sua ‘Vita’ scritta dal
monaco contemporaneo Biagio (1330 ca.), è contenuta nel cod. 271 della
Biblioteca Riccardiana di Firenze; inoltre vi è una seconda ‘Vita’ nel cod.
1563 della stessa Biblioteca.
Ma molti altri testi dei
secoli successivi, fino agli Atti della Congregazione dei Riti del 1720,
riportano notizie che la riguardano, sia come persona, sia per gli scritti, sia
per i processi apostolici, sia per le fondazioni di monasteri a lei
collegati.
Rosanna Negusanti, figlia
dei nobili Elimonte e Richelda, nacque a Faenza nel 1226, l’anno della morte
del serafico Francesco d’Assisi; nel 1241 a 15 anni, perse il padre e l’anno
successivo a 16 anni sposò il patrizio Ugonotto dei Caccianemici, avranno ben presto
due bambini, ma la loro felicità fu brevissima, essi morirono appena
battezzati; nel contempo le muore anche la madre Richelda.
Ma la giovane donna
(aveva 24 anni) senza avvilirsi e cedere allo sconforto o distrarsi con le
gioie del mondo, decide insieme al marito Ugonotto (che morirà nel 1256) di
ritirarsi a vita religiosa, entrando ambedue nei chiostri della canonica di S.
Perpetua; non era raro nel Medioevo, di assistere a scelte di questo genere fra
due coniugi cristiani.
Ed in questa occasione
Rosanna Negusanti cambia il nome in quello di Umiltà; dopo essere guarita
miracolosamente da una grave malattia, nel 1254 lascia il chiostro della
canonica e si ritira in clausura in una celletta costruita per lei presso il
monastero vallombrosano di S. Apollinare, fondato tra il 1012 e il 1015 da s.
Giovanni Gualberto.
Qui visse per dodici
anni, purificando ed elevando il suo spirito con preghiere e digiuni,
alternandoli con consigli che dava a quanti le si rivolgevano per aiuto. Il suo
esempio attrasse alcune giovani di Faenza che chiesero di costruire altre celle
vicino alla sua e per vivere sotto la sua guida.
E così nel 1266 per
consiglio del vescovo Petrella, Umiltà accetta di diventare la guida spirituale
delle nuove monache, riunite nel vecchio monastero della Malta a Vallombrosa
(FI), che d’ora in poi si chiamerà di S. Maria Novella.
Umiltà aveva ormai 40
anni, ritorna ad essere madre piena di bontà, di saggezza e di energia,
diventando la guida per le nuove figlie, indirizzandole sulla via della
santità; alcune delle prime monache godono per questo di un culto.
Trascorsero quindici
anni, mettendo in pratica tutte le virtù della Regola di San Benedetto e delle
Costituzioni Vallombrosane di S. Giovanni Gualberto. Quando aveva 55 anni, nel
1281 madre Umiltà si mise a costruire una nuova casa spirituale per le giovani
fiorentine, la cui vita era scossa dalle lotte fra Bianchi e Neri; la chiesa
venne eretta a Firenze, in onore di S. Giovanni Evangelista, ebbe come
architetto Giovanni Pisano e come decoratore il celebre Buffalmacco; fu
consacrata nel 1297 dal vescovo Francesco Monaldeschi.
Pur essendo molto malata
e anziana, suor Umiltà teneva contatti personali con Faenza e Roma per dare
continuità ai due monasteri, finché dopo sei mesi di sofferenze, ad 84 anni,
cessò di vivere a Firenze il 22 maggio 1310.
Dopo un anno il 6 giugno
1311, il suo corpo fu esumato e benché fosse sepolto nella nuda terra, sotto il
pavimento della chiesa, risultò incorrotto; fu rivestita di preziosi indumenti
e da allora ebbe un culto ininterrotto. Il suo corpo in seguito fu
traslato nei monasteri di S. Caterina, di S. Antonio (1529), di San Salvi
(1534) e infine nell’800, in quello dello Spirito Santo di Varlungo presso
Firenze, dove è tuttora conservato.
La spiritualità di s.
Umiltà si può rilevare dai pochi Sermoni pervenutaci, essi sono viva
espressione di profonda umiltà e di fervido amore per Dio e per il prossimo. Il
suo culto è antichissimo, forse risale addirittura alla solenne ‘elevazione’
delle reliquie del 1311, in cui fu concessa una Messa propria; nel 1317 i
vescovi radunati ad Avignone concessero particolari indulgenze.
Il 27 gennaio 1720 la
Congregazione dei Riti con papa Benedetto XIII confermò l’antico culto, facendo
celebrare la Messa propria il 22 maggio. Fu dichiarata nel 1942 compatrona di
Faenza; le vennero dedicati altari nei due monasteri da lei fondati della
Congregazione Vallombrosana.
Autore: Antonio Borrelli
SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/91407
Andrea
Orcagna (attr.), La Beata Umiltà, 1350 circa, San Michele a San Salvi
San Michele a San Salvi -
Interior ; Andrea Orcagna
Den hellige Humilitas av
Faenza (1226-1310)
Minnedag:
22. mai
Medskytshelgen for Faenza
(1942)
Den hellige Humilitas
(it: Umiltà) ble født som Rosanna Negusanti (Rosane, Rosanese, Rosanesa) i 1226
i Faenza nær Bologna i regionen Emilia Romagna i Nord-Italia, samme år som den
hellige Frans
av Assisi døde. Hun var datter av Elimonte og Richelda Negusanti i en
adelig og velstående familie. Fra sine tidlige år lengtet hun etter å slutte
seg til et kloster for å la seg forme etter apostelen Johannes og Jomfru Maria, som
sto ved foten av Jesu kors på Golgata. Men foreldrene ville ikke høre på dette
og insisterte i stedet på at hun tok seg en mann.
I 1241 døde hennes far,
og året etter tvang familien den sekstenårige Rosanna til å gifte seg med en
ung adelsmann fra Faenza ved navn Ugoletto (Ugonotto dei Caccianemici). Han var
tilsynelatende frivol, ubekymret og troløs, og han hånte sin hustrus åndelige
vaner. Hennes sorger ble enda større da de to sønnene som hun fødte, døde ikke
lenge etter at de var døpt. På samme tid døde også hennes mor Richelda.
Det som fikk Ugoletto til
å ta til fornuft, var en alvorlig kjønnssykdom i 1250, ni år etter bryllupet,
og det var så vidt han berget livet. Angivelig kunne sykdommen bare helbredes
ved hjelp av seksuell avholdenhet, og han var nå renset og gikk med på at
Rosanna gikk i kloster. De valgte dobbeltklosteret Santa Perpetua for kanniker
ved Faenza, hvor han levde som legbror og den 24-årige Rosanna ble nonne og tok
navnet Humilitas (ydmykhet). I middelalderen var det ikke uvanlig for to
kristne ektefeller å inngå slike avtaler.
Humilitas ble syk med
kreft i nyrene, noe som forårsaket en kvalmende lukt fra hennes råtnende
legeme. Etter å ha kommet seg på mirakuløst vis etter denne alvorlige
sykdommen, fant Humilitas i 1254 ut at hun trengte enda større disiplin enn
reglene i nonneklosteret krevde, og etter å ha prøvd i et klarissekloster,
bygde en slektning en celle for henne inntil veggen på klosterkirken St.
Apollinaris. Klosteret var grunnlagt mellom 1012 og 1015 av den hellige Johannes Gualbertus (ca
990-1073) og tilhørte vallombrosanerne (Congregatio Vallis Umbrosae
Ordinis Sancti Benedicti – CVUOSB).
Et hull ble slått i
veggen slik at hun kunne følge gudstjeneste inne i kirken og motta
sakramentene (qua videre posset et recipere sacrosanctae Matris Ecclesiae
Sacramenta), mens hun gjennom et annet hull ut mot gaten kunne motta mat og gi
råd. Deretter levde hun der som inkluser (lat: inclusio =
innesperring), det vil si innemurt nonne. Hun ble snart kjent som en helgen og
ble sagt å kunne utføre mirakler. En vallombrosanermunk hadde en betent fot og
skulle få den amputert da han heller ville bli brakt til Humilitas. Hun
velsignet foten med korsets tegn, og han ble straks helbredet.
I tolv år levde hun dette
livet mens hun renset og opphøyde sin ånd gjennom bønn og faste. Hver dag
spiste hun bare brød og vann og noen ganger noen få urter, og hun sov på kne
med hodet hvilende mot veggen. Hennes åndelige behov ble ivaretatt av de
vallombrosanske munkene fra klosteret. I mellomtiden hadde hennes mann flyttet
til klosteret St. Crispinus, hvor han døde i 1256, åpenbart uten at ektefellene
hadde møttes igjen.
En rekke mennesker kom
til Humilitas' celle for å be om råd, og hennes eksempel tiltrakk noen unge
kvinner fra Faenza som ba om å få bygge celler nær hennes og leve der under
hennes veiledning. Til slutt lot hun seg overtale av den lokale biskopen
Petrella og ordensgeneralen for vallombrosanerne, som hadde bestemt at ordenen
nå skulle åpnes for kvinner, og hun gikk med på å bli åndelig veileder for de
nye nonnene. De flyttet i 1266 til det gamle klosteret Malta i Vallombrosa nær
Fiesole, rundt tre mil øst for Firenze, og Humilitas hjalp til med å grunnlegge
klosteret Santa Maria Novella alle Malta. Dette ble det første nonneklosteret i
vallombrosanerordenen, og hun ble abbedisse.
Humilitas var nå førti år
gammel og vendte tilbake til verden som Moder Humilitas for å bli veileder for
sine nye døtre, full av energi og visdom og godhet. I de neste femten årene
praktiserte hun alle dydene i den hellige Benedikts regel
og Johannes Gualbertus' vallombrosanske konstitusjoner.
Da Humilitas var 55 år
gammel i 1281, ble Firenze rystet av striden mellom ghibellinere og guelfere
eller «hvite» og «svarte», Bianchi e Neri, og Humilitas' kloster ble
plyndret, selv om soldatene respekterte nonnene. Men det var på tide å flytte.
Først tenkte man å flytte kommuniteten til Venezia, men Humilitas bestemte seg
for å flytte til Firenze, selv om guelferne der i 1258 hadde halshogd abbed
Tesoro av Vallombrosa. Hun fraktet selv materialene på et esel til det nye
klosteret, som ble viet til evangelisten Johannes. Humilitas ble abbedisse for
nonnene i klosteret der. Hun ville ha et enkelt bygg, men myndighetene i
Firenze ville det annerledes, så kirken ble tegnet av arkitekten Giovanni
Pisano og utsmykket av den berømte Buffalmacco. Den ble konsekrert i 1297 av
biskop Francesco Monaldeschi. Dette var samtidig som arbeidene på Santa Croce
(påbegynt 1295), Santa Maria del Fiore (påbegynt 1296) og Palazzo della
Signoria (påbegynt 1298).
Humilitas skal ha skrevet
noen avhandlinger, en av dem om englene, som hun hevdet å stå i konstant
forbindelse med. Også i Firenze utførte hun mirakler. En august ble hun svært
syk med høy feber, og hun tryglet sine søstre om å få litt is. Hun ba dem gå
til brønnen og hente den, og de fant den tørre brønnen full av is. Deres
lydighet hadde lært dem nestekjærlighet. Denne brønnen er i dag i Fortezza da Basso.
Til tross for sin
heroiske faste og brutalt asketiske liv levde Humilitas til hun var godt over
åtti år gammel. I jubileumsåret 1300 var hun 74 år gammel og svekket av
bekymringer og botsøvelser. Den 13. desember 1309, på festen for den
hellige Lucia,
fikk hun et slag som gjorde at hun mistet taleevnen og førligheten. Hun hadde
ønsket å dø på en fredag, og etter seks måneders lidelser døde hun klokken tre
fredag den 22. mai 1310 i Firenze, 84 år gammel. Hele Firenze var beveget ved
nyheten og flokket seg om klosteret. Biskopen av Firenze presiderte ved
begravelsen søndag den 24. mai. Hun ble lagt i en grav til høyre for alteret
viet til Johannes evangelisten.
Det skjedde mirakler ved
graven, og det ble sett at den var dekket av olje, og selv om den ble tørket
bort, fortsatte dette fenomenet. Etter et år ble hennes grav åpnet den 6. juni
1311, og selv om hennes legeme hadde vært gravlagt rett i jorden under
kirkegulvet, viste det seg å være intakt (incorrotto). Dette ble sjekket
igjen den 11. juni av biskop Antonio degli Orsi av Firenze og andre vitner.
Hennes legeme ble ikledd
kostbare gevanter, og fra da av hadde hun en uavbrutt kult. Ved denne
høytidelige «elevasjonen» i 1311 fikk hun en egen messe, og i 1317 innvilget
biskopene som var samlet i Avignon, en spesiell avlat. Hennes intakte legeme
ble senere flyttet til klosteret Santa Caterina og Sant'Antonio (1529). I 1534
tvang Mediciene klosteret til å flytte til San Salvi, nær Campo di Marte, og de
tok Humilitas med seg. I 1815 oppløste myndighetene dette klosteret og de
flyttet til klosteret Spirito Santo i Varlungo nær Firenze. Til slutt flyttet
søstrene i 1972 til Bagno a Ripoli og tok legemet av sin helgen med seg.
Humilitas ble helligkåret
ved at hennes kult ble stadfestet den 27. januar 1720 av pave Klemens XI
(1700-21). Hennes minnedag er dødsdagen 22. mai. Hun betraktes som grunnlegger
av de vallombrosanske nonnene. Hun ble utnevnt til medskytshelgen for Faenza i
1942.
Hennes biografi ble
skrevet av den samtidige munken Biagio (ca 1330) og er bevart som Codex 271
i Biblioteca Riccardiana i Firenze, og det finnes også en annen
biografi som Codex 1563 i det samme biblioteket. Hennes biografi finnes i Acta
Sanctorum.1 I
kunsten avbildes hun som vallombrosanernonne i svart slør, hvitt hodeklede og
gråbrun drakt med et lammeskinn over hodet. Mellom 1313 og 1348 malte Pietro
Lorenzetti flere scener fra Humilitas' liv. Lorenzettis polyptyk (gr:
polyptychos = «mangefold»; et maleri eller relieff med mer enn tre
billedflater) er nå i Galleria della Uffizi i Firenze, bortsett fra
to paneler som befinner seg i Gemäldegalerie i Berlin.
Humilitas av Faenza står
på en liste over helgener2 som har det
til felles at det ble sagt at det fra deres graver eller relikvier strømmet ut
olje til visse tider.3 Disse
helgenene ble gjerne kalt på gresk Myroblýtes («myrrautgytere»).
1 Acta Sanctorum, mai, V, s 203-22
2 Catholic Encyclopedia: Oil of Saints
3 Acta Sanctorum, mai, V, s 211
Kilder:
Attwater/Cumming, Bentley, Butler (V), Benedictines, Delaney, Bunson,
Schauber/Schindler, Index99, KIR, CSO, Patron Saints SQPN, Infocatho, Bautz,
Heiligenlexikon, santiebeati.it, en.wikipedia.org, umilta.net -
Kompilasjon og oversettelse: p. Per Einar Odden -
Opprettet: 2000-05-11 23:40 - - Sist oppdatert: 2008-04-06 19:50
SOURCE : https://www.katolsk.no/biografier/historisk/humilita
LA BEATA UMILTA`- CONTEMPLATING
ON HOLY HUMILITY : https://www.umilta.net/umilta.html
Umiltà of Faenza : https://juliehenkener.com/2026/01/23/umilta-of-faenza/
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