Camilla Battista da Varano
Encyclopedia
Saint
Camilla Battista da Varano (April 9, 1458 – May 31, 1524), from Camerino
, Macerata
, Italy
, was an Italian princess
and a Poor Clares Roman Catholic nun
. She was beatified by Pope Gregory XVI in 1843 and canonized by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010.
family, her father was Giulio Cesare da Varano, the prince of Camerino. She was born out of wedlock, and raised by Giovanni Malatesta, the wife of her father. Both her father and his wife were very fond of her, and she grew up in the splendour of the court, receiving a noble education (as she was the princess) that included grammar and rhetoric.
When she was 8 or 10 years old she heard a Good Friday sermon preached by the Observant Franciscan Domenico da Leonessa, who later became one of her many confessors. Domenico had ended his sermon by exhorting his hearers to shed one teardrop for Christ's passion. This sermon a deep impression on Batista. Later she vowed to God to shed a tear of love for Christ's passion on every Good Friday. Initially she found this troublesome, and she would try to squeeze out a tear, sometimes with no success, although after it had been squeezed she would quickly jump up to run away and play. Initially she had no stomach for the things that were affiliated with the spiritual life such as devotions, and she would make fun of friars and nuns.
She preservered in her vow, however, and one day came across a booklet that contained a meditation on the Passion of Christ divided into fifteen parts (to be recited like a Rosary) and she began to read it every friday while on her knees before a crucifix. She also then began other practices such as fasting on bread and water, keeping night vigils, which she found led to her tears flowing more freely. At this time she continued to spend time playing music, singing, dancing, promenading, and other youthful pursuits abundant in court life that she would later look upon as vanities.
During Lent of 1479 she listened to the sermon of Observant Franciscan Francesco da Urbino about "the trumpet of the Holy Spirit". This sermon also struck her deeply. After another sermon by the same friar (with whom she secretly corresponded) on the feast of the Annunciation, March 24, 1479, she then took a vow of chastity; she was 21 at the time. At this same time, she also began to increasingly hear voices inside her telling her that her only hope of salvation was to become a nun.
She then had a bitter internal struggle, accompanied by sneers and talking behind her back by members of the court, and her father initially opposed her wish to enter into religious life, wishing her to marry. After a confession of her sins to a certain Fra. Oliviero on the octave of Holy Saturday, April 17, 1479, she decided that she would enter the Poor Clare monastery at Urbino.
During the next two and half years before she entered the convent, she reported having very deep conversion to Christ, and that she reported to have received many divine visitations. She claimed that Jesus had given her 'three fragrant spring lilies': an intense hatred of the world, a heart-felt humility and a burning desire to suffer evil. She composed her first written work in this time, a Lauda, which was about the joy she felt in knowing that Christ loved her. She claimed that she once saw Christ (in answer to her desire to see Him), but she only saw His back walking away. She also experienced seven months of severe physical illness and depression.
. On November 24, 1481, she claimed to have 'freed from the slavery of Egypt' (referring to the world), and from 'the hands of powerful Pharaoh' (referring to her father as well as Satan), had 'crossed the Red Sea' (left the court life), and was placed in the desert of holy religion (entered a convent).
It was during her stay at Urbino that she wrote Ricordi di Gesu, a meditation in the form of a letter from Jesus. She intensified her meditations on the Passion and claimed to enter more deeply into the mental pains in the heart of Jesus.
She made her religious profession in 1483 and claimed it was a bitter moment for her, as there was much political and religious controversy about her decision to become a nun. She entered the Monastery of Santa Maria Nuova at Camerino (located directly adjacent to her father's castle) on January 4, 1484, which was restored by her father in order to be closer to his daughter. Her father had made arrangements with the Vicar General of the Observant Franciscans in order to have her located there, which she was reluctant to accept.
One of the most significant points in her spiritual life occurred then when she had a vision lasting fifteen days of Saint Clare of Assisi. She wrote that she did not know who she was at first, but afterwards she knew that it was St Clare and that the experience had caused her love and devotion to St Clare to intensify. It was a few days after this that she had her vision of the two Cherubim holding her at the bleeding feet of Christ (described below), which lasted two months. She had another vision following this of God's love, which afterwards convinced her of her unworthiness and she asked God to always remain prostrate at Christ's feet. The next five years she recored as being filled with inner suffering that gave her a desire to leave the body and be with Christ.
In 1488, Camilla wrote 'I dolori mentali di Gesu nella sua Passione', which followed from her long meditations on Christ's mental sufferings. It was written as a long meditation from an anonymous nun to her abess, and it consists in Christ presenting eight of His sorrows: the damned, the elect, his mother, Mary Magdalen, the apostles, Judas, the Jewish people, and the ingratitude of all creation.
The following five years were ones wherein she experience a spiritual crisis, wherein she wrote that she was battling with the devil, as she felt abandonment and desolation while being haunted with temptations to rebel against God and to disbelieve the scriptures. During this period, between February 27 and March 13, 1491 she composed 'Vita Spirituale', which was a long letter to Domenico da Leonessa (the preacher who had inspired her tear drops as a child). In the letter she told him how he had inspired her spiritual life and expressed his gratitude to him. She thought that this would be her last testament before dying, but she was to live on for another 30 years.
In 1492 she met Antonio di Spagna, an Olivetan friar, who became her spiritual director for four years. She was elected abbess of her monastery in 1500 (she had been made Vicar in 1488), and she was elected again in 1507, 1513 and 1515.
for hosting enemies of the pope and for allegedly assassinating the pope's cousin. The Pope's forces led by Cesare Borgia
captured Camerino in 1502 and Battista's father and brothers were killed; she found refuge in Abruzzo in the Kingdom of Naples with the Duchess Atri, Isabella Piccolomini-Todeschini and stayed there until 1503, after which she returned to Camerino.
sent her to found a convent in Fermo
; she went and stayed for two years.
In 1512 through her intervention in San Severino (in the Italian Marches) she successfully stopped the execution of Napoleone of Camerino for murder. In 1515 she wrote to her brother-in-law Muzio Colonna to ask him to spare the inhabitants of Montecchio during his military expedition against Fermo.
In 1521 and 1522 she traveled to San Severino Marche
to form the local religious who in that period had adopted the rule of St. Clare. She wrote a letter to the Vicar General of the Observant Franciscans, Giovanni da Fano, to whom her last written work 'Trattato della Purita di cuore' was dedicated to in the same year. She died in her monastery during a plague on March 31, 1524 at the age of 64.
from 1466-1491 which is considered a "jewel of art" and of interior (religious) life. In this work, she describes how two seraphims with wings of gold, appeared to her because they were assigned to help her understand the mysterious working of unitive love.
Completed in 1488, Treatise on the Mental Sufferings of Jesus Christ our Lord (I dolori mentale di Gesu nella sua passione), is considered a masterpiece. It is largely a series of translations of revelations which she received.
Also attributed to her are three brief hand-written compositions, a short letter to her brother-in-law Muzio Colonna (1515), a Memoria recording her first encounter with the Benedictine-Olivetan monk Antonio di Segovia (1492), a eulogy in honour of the death of the Observant Franciscan Pietro da Mogliano (1491), as well brief prayers, letters, poems, tracts and revelations.
She wrote in the dialect of the Italian marches, while quoting scripture in Latin.
Her writing represented a high point in the Poor Clare tradition through its emphasis on the following of the poor and crucified Christ as well as mystical espousal with him. An element of her writing not found in St Clare's was her stress on Christ's inner sufferings and the need to suffer the evil that had befallen Him.
On October 17, 2010, Pope Benedict XVI
celebrated the canonization
Mass of Battista and 5 others.
Saint
A saint is a holy person. In various religions, saints are people who are believed to have exceptional holiness.In Christian usage, "saint" refers to any believer who is "in Christ", and in whom Christ dwells, whether in heaven or in earth...
Camilla Battista da Varano (April 9, 1458 – May 31, 1524), from Camerino
Camerino
Camerino is a small town of 7.135 inhabitants in the Marches , in the province of Macerata, Italy. It is located in the Apennines bordering Umbria, between the valleys of the rivers Potenza and Chienti, about 40 miles from Ancona....
, Macerata
Macerata
Macerata is a city and comune in central Italy, the capital of the province of Macerata in the Marche region.The historical city center is located on a hill between the Chienti and Potenza rivers. It consisted of the Picenes city named Ricina, then, after the romanization, Recina and Helvia Recina...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, was an Italian princess
Princess
Princess is the feminine form of prince . Most often, the term has been used for the consort of a prince, or his daughters....
and a Poor Clares Roman Catholic nun
Nun
A nun is a woman who has taken vows committing her to live a spiritual life. She may be an ascetic who voluntarily chooses to leave mainstream society and live her life in prayer and contemplation in a monastery or convent...
. She was beatified by Pope Gregory XVI in 1843 and canonized by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010.
Early life
Born in Camerino to a wealthy nobleNobility
Nobility is a social class which possesses more acknowledged privileges or eminence than members of most other classes in a society, membership therein typically being hereditary. The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be...
family, her father was Giulio Cesare da Varano, the prince of Camerino. She was born out of wedlock, and raised by Giovanni Malatesta, the wife of her father. Both her father and his wife were very fond of her, and she grew up in the splendour of the court, receiving a noble education (as she was the princess) that included grammar and rhetoric.
When she was 8 or 10 years old she heard a Good Friday sermon preached by the Observant Franciscan Domenico da Leonessa, who later became one of her many confessors. Domenico had ended his sermon by exhorting his hearers to shed one teardrop for Christ's passion. This sermon a deep impression on Batista. Later she vowed to God to shed a tear of love for Christ's passion on every Good Friday. Initially she found this troublesome, and she would try to squeeze out a tear, sometimes with no success, although after it had been squeezed she would quickly jump up to run away and play. Initially she had no stomach for the things that were affiliated with the spiritual life such as devotions, and she would make fun of friars and nuns.
She preservered in her vow, however, and one day came across a booklet that contained a meditation on the Passion of Christ divided into fifteen parts (to be recited like a Rosary) and she began to read it every friday while on her knees before a crucifix. She also then began other practices such as fasting on bread and water, keeping night vigils, which she found led to her tears flowing more freely. At this time she continued to spend time playing music, singing, dancing, promenading, and other youthful pursuits abundant in court life that she would later look upon as vanities.
During Lent of 1479 she listened to the sermon of Observant Franciscan Francesco da Urbino about "the trumpet of the Holy Spirit". This sermon also struck her deeply. After another sermon by the same friar (with whom she secretly corresponded) on the feast of the Annunciation, March 24, 1479, she then took a vow of chastity; she was 21 at the time. At this same time, she also began to increasingly hear voices inside her telling her that her only hope of salvation was to become a nun.
She then had a bitter internal struggle, accompanied by sneers and talking behind her back by members of the court, and her father initially opposed her wish to enter into religious life, wishing her to marry. After a confession of her sins to a certain Fra. Oliviero on the octave of Holy Saturday, April 17, 1479, she decided that she would enter the Poor Clare monastery at Urbino.
During the next two and half years before she entered the convent, she reported having very deep conversion to Christ, and that she reported to have received many divine visitations. She claimed that Jesus had given her 'three fragrant spring lilies': an intense hatred of the world, a heart-felt humility and a burning desire to suffer evil. She composed her first written work in this time, a Lauda, which was about the joy she felt in knowing that Christ loved her. She claimed that she once saw Christ (in answer to her desire to see Him), but she only saw His back walking away. She also experienced seven months of severe physical illness and depression.
Religious life
When she was 23, she entered the convent of the poor Clares at UrbinoUrbino
Urbino is a walled city in the Marche region of Italy, south-west of Pesaro, a World Heritage Site notable for a remarkable historical legacy of independent Renaissance culture, especially under the patronage of Federico da Montefeltro, duke of Urbino from 1444 to 1482...
. On November 24, 1481, she claimed to have 'freed from the slavery of Egypt' (referring to the world), and from 'the hands of powerful Pharaoh' (referring to her father as well as Satan), had 'crossed the Red Sea' (left the court life), and was placed in the desert of holy religion (entered a convent).
It was during her stay at Urbino that she wrote Ricordi di Gesu, a meditation in the form of a letter from Jesus. She intensified her meditations on the Passion and claimed to enter more deeply into the mental pains in the heart of Jesus.
She made her religious profession in 1483 and claimed it was a bitter moment for her, as there was much political and religious controversy about her decision to become a nun. She entered the Monastery of Santa Maria Nuova at Camerino (located directly adjacent to her father's castle) on January 4, 1484, which was restored by her father in order to be closer to his daughter. Her father had made arrangements with the Vicar General of the Observant Franciscans in order to have her located there, which she was reluctant to accept.
One of the most significant points in her spiritual life occurred then when she had a vision lasting fifteen days of Saint Clare of Assisi. She wrote that she did not know who she was at first, but afterwards she knew that it was St Clare and that the experience had caused her love and devotion to St Clare to intensify. It was a few days after this that she had her vision of the two Cherubim holding her at the bleeding feet of Christ (described below), which lasted two months. She had another vision following this of God's love, which afterwards convinced her of her unworthiness and she asked God to always remain prostrate at Christ's feet. The next five years she recored as being filled with inner suffering that gave her a desire to leave the body and be with Christ.
In 1488, Camilla wrote 'I dolori mentali di Gesu nella sua Passione', which followed from her long meditations on Christ's mental sufferings. It was written as a long meditation from an anonymous nun to her abess, and it consists in Christ presenting eight of His sorrows: the damned, the elect, his mother, Mary Magdalen, the apostles, Judas, the Jewish people, and the ingratitude of all creation.
The following five years were ones wherein she experience a spiritual crisis, wherein she wrote that she was battling with the devil, as she felt abandonment and desolation while being haunted with temptations to rebel against God and to disbelieve the scriptures. During this period, between February 27 and March 13, 1491 she composed 'Vita Spirituale', which was a long letter to Domenico da Leonessa (the preacher who had inspired her tear drops as a child). In the letter she told him how he had inspired her spiritual life and expressed his gratitude to him. She thought that this would be her last testament before dying, but she was to live on for another 30 years.
In 1492 she met Antonio di Spagna, an Olivetan friar, who became her spiritual director for four years. She was elected abbess of her monastery in 1500 (she had been made Vicar in 1488), and she was elected again in 1507, 1513 and 1515.
Flight from Camerino
In 1501 her father was excommunicated by Pope Alexander VIPope Alexander VI
Pope Alexander VI , born Roderic Llançol i Borja was Pope from 1492 until his death on 18 August 1503. He is one of the most controversial of the Renaissance popes, and his Italianized surname—Borgia—became a byword for the debased standards of the Papacy of that era, most notoriously the Banquet...
for hosting enemies of the pope and for allegedly assassinating the pope's cousin. The Pope's forces led by Cesare Borgia
Cesare Borgia
Cesare Borgia , Duke of Valentinois, was an Italian condottiero, nobleman, politician, and cardinal. He was the son of Pope Alexander VI and his long-term mistress Vannozza dei Cattanei. He was the brother of Lucrezia Borgia; Giovanni Borgia , Duke of Gandia; and Gioffre Borgia , Prince of Squillace...
captured Camerino in 1502 and Battista's father and brothers were killed; she found refuge in Abruzzo in the Kingdom of Naples with the Duchess Atri, Isabella Piccolomini-Todeschini and stayed there until 1503, after which she returned to Camerino.
Later life
In 1505, Pope Julius IIPope Julius II
Pope Julius II , nicknamed "The Fearsome Pope" and "The Warrior Pope" , born Giuliano della Rovere, was Pope from 1503 to 1513...
sent her to found a convent in Fermo
Fermo
Fermo is a town and comune of the Marche, Italy, in the Province of Fermo.Fermo is located on a hill, the Sabulo with a fine view, on a branch from Porto San Giorgio on the Adriatic coast railway....
; she went and stayed for two years.
In 1512 through her intervention in San Severino (in the Italian Marches) she successfully stopped the execution of Napoleone of Camerino for murder. In 1515 she wrote to her brother-in-law Muzio Colonna to ask him to spare the inhabitants of Montecchio during his military expedition against Fermo.
In 1521 and 1522 she traveled to San Severino Marche
San Severino Marche
San Severino Marche is a comune in the Province of Macerata in the Italian region Marche, located about 50 km southwest of Ancona and about 25 km southwest of Macerata.-From prehistory to Roman age:...
to form the local religious who in that period had adopted the rule of St. Clare. She wrote a letter to the Vicar General of the Observant Franciscans, Giovanni da Fano, to whom her last written work 'Trattato della Purita di cuore' was dedicated to in the same year. She died in her monastery during a plague on March 31, 1524 at the age of 64.
Writings
Camilla wrote extensively. Her work includes Pregheria a Dio (1488–1490), Remembrances of Jesus (Ricordi di Gesu) (1483–1491), Praise of the Vision of Christ (1479–1481), and The Spiritual Life (Vita Spirituale) (1491), an autobiographyAutobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
from 1466-1491 which is considered a "jewel of art" and of interior (religious) life. In this work, she describes how two seraphims with wings of gold, appeared to her because they were assigned to help her understand the mysterious working of unitive love.
Two angels came to me, dressed in resplendent white garments which I have seen only worn by Jesus. They had wings of gold. One of them took my soul from the right side, the other from the left side, and they elevated it in the air, laying it down near the crucified feet of the Son of God made Man. This state lasted about two months almost continually; I seem to walk, to speak, and do what I wished, deprived however of my soul. It remained there where the two Angels had placed it but they never abandoned it.
...They (the celestial spirits) declare to me that they were so intimate with God that God is not ever separated from them. They also explained to me that the Seraphim were likewise united to the Cherubim in that none of them could ever go without the other to a soul.
— Camilla Varano, The Spiritual Life
Completed in 1488, Treatise on the Mental Sufferings of Jesus Christ our Lord (I dolori mentale di Gesu nella sua passione), is considered a masterpiece. It is largely a series of translations of revelations which she received.
Also attributed to her are three brief hand-written compositions, a short letter to her brother-in-law Muzio Colonna (1515), a Memoria recording her first encounter with the Benedictine-Olivetan monk Antonio di Segovia (1492), a eulogy in honour of the death of the Observant Franciscan Pietro da Mogliano (1491), as well brief prayers, letters, poems, tracts and revelations.
She wrote in the dialect of the Italian marches, while quoting scripture in Latin.
Her writing represented a high point in the Poor Clare tradition through its emphasis on the following of the poor and crucified Christ as well as mystical espousal with him. An element of her writing not found in St Clare's was her stress on Christ's inner sufferings and the need to suffer the evil that had befallen Him.
Death & canonization
She died on May 31, 1524, during a plague. Her remains rest in the Monastery of the Clares of Camerino.On October 17, 2010, Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI
Benedict XVI is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the leader of the Catholic Church as well as the other 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See...
celebrated the canonization
Canonization
Canonization is the act by which a Christian church declares a deceased person to be a saint, upon which declaration the person is included in the canon, or list, of recognized saints. Originally, individuals were recognized as saints without any formal process...
Mass of Battista and 5 others.
External links
- Poor Clares Official U.S. website
- Camilla Battista Varani at Patron Saints Index