From: rich <richarra@gmail.com>

May 20th - Bl. Columba of Rieti, Mystic

IN the chronicles of Perugia we find many references to Bl. Columba, a Dominican tertiary who, by virtue of her sanctity and spiritual gifts,
became whilst yet living so completely the city's patroness that her
mediation was officially sought by the magistrates in times of danger
and perplexity. She was a native, not of Perugia, but of Rieti, where
her father and mother earned a modest livelihood as weavers and
tailors. Although her angelic looks as a baby led her parents to
choose for her the name of Angiolella, she was always called Columba,
in allusion to a dove which made its appearance during her baptism and
alighted on her head. As she grew in years so she grew in beauty of
soul and body. From the Dominican nuns who taught her to read she
acquired a great veneration for St. Dominic and St. Catherine of
Siena, and during her life they often appeared in visions to encourage
or direct her. She secretly dedicated herself to God, and when her
parents urged that she should be betrothed to a wealthy young man, she
cut off her hair, declaring that her whole heart belonged to Jesus.
She now gave herself up to austerities, hidden as far as possible from
the eyes of men, and she strove to tread in the footsteps of St.
Catherine. On one occasion, after a cataleptic trance in which she had
lain as though dead for 5 days, she described the holy places of
Palestine which she had been visiting in spirit. But it was at the age
of 19, when she had been invested with the Dominican tertiary habit
which she had long desired, that she emerged from her retirement and
entered upon what may almost be described as her public life.

A resident of Rieti lay under sentence of death for murder, and
Columba's prayers were asked on his behalf. She visited him in prison,
brought him to repentance and, after he had made a good confession,
assured him that his execution would not take place. Her prophecy was
fulfilled when at the 11 hour a reprieve arrived. Her reputation was
further enhanced by miracles and by her almost complete abstention
from food. At Viterbo, where she cured a demoniac, and also at Narni,
the inhabitants sought to detain her by force, but she eluded them.
She was not, however, to remain long at Rieti. It was revealed to her
that her mission lay elsewhere, and accordingly early one morning she
slipped out of the house in secular clothes-bound she knew not
whither. Upon her arrival at Foligno she was arrested on suspicion
that she was a fugitive for whom the authorities were searching, and
her relations were notified. Joined by her father, her brother, and an
elderly matron, she was then able to pursue her mysterious journey
which led finally to the gates of Perugia--perhaps the most turbulent
city in Italy. She was received in a humble dwelling already occupied
by several tertiaries, and immediately seems to have been made the
object of a popular demonstration. Her fame, no doubt, had preceded
her. Not only the poor, but many of the rich, including the ladies of
the Baglioni family then in power, welcomed her with open arms. On the
other hand, certain excellent persons--notably the Franciscan and
Dominican friars--were openly suspicious of a young woman who was said
to subsist on a few berries and who was constantly falling into
ecstasies. Amongst them was Fr. Sebastian Angeli, afterwards her
confessor and biographer. In his book he confesses his early doubts
and the incredulity with which he received the information that she
had resuscitated a child. "Wait for ten years", he said to young
Cesare Borgia, who suggested ringing the city bells, "and then if her
conduct has not belied her reputation we can reckon her a saint." The
citizens generally, however, had no such doubts, and they offered to
provide her with a convent.

On January 2, 1490, Columba with a few companions took the vows of a
Dominican religious of the third order. A few years later, on the
outbreak of plague, her position was so well established that the
magistrates applied to her for advice and adopted her suggestion of
penitential processions. Many of the sick were healed by her touch,
some in her convent where they were tended by her nuns, some outside.
She had offered herself to God as a victim; and when in answer to her
prayers the plague abated, she contracted it in a virulent form. Her
recovery she attributed to St. Catherine, in whose honour the
magistrates decreed an annual procession which was continued for a 100
years. In the bitter quarrels that rent the city Columba invariably
acted as an angel of peace, and once she warned the rulers of a
projected attack from outside which they were consequently able to
frustrate.

Pope Alexander VI when he came to Perugia asked specially to see her,
and was so impressed that at a later date he sent his treasurer to
consult her on certain secret projects--only to receive reproaches and
warnings the details of which were never made public. But if the
pontiff himself was favourably disposed, it was otherwise with his
daughter, Lucrezia Borgia, whom Columba had refused to meet and who,
it is said, became her bitter enemy. Apparently as the result of her
hostile influence, Bl. Columba was subjected to a period of
persecution, when a decree issued from Rome accused her of magic and
deprived her of her confessor. She uttered no complaint and bore all
in patience until the attack passed. Towards the end of her life she
suffered much bodily pain, but her interest in Perugia continued to
the end. To the city fathers who came to visit her in her last illness
she gave an exhortation to observe Christian charity and to do justice
to the poor. She died at the age of 34, early in the morning on the
feast of the Ascension, 1501.

Bible Quote:
7 For who sees anything different in you? What have you that you did
not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if it were
not a gift? [1 Corinthians 4:7] RSVCE

Saint Quote:
We are like children, who stand in need of masters to enlighten us and
direct us; and God has provided for this, by appointing his angels to
be our teachers and guides.
-- Saint Thomas Aquinas


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Prayer To Saint Michael For Powerful Aid

Glorious Prince of the heavenly hosts
and victor over rebellious spirits,
be mindful of me who am so weak and sinful
and yet so prone to pride and ambition.
Lend me, I pray,
thy powerful aid in every temptation and difficulty,
and above all do not forsake me
in my last struggle with the powers of evil.

Amen.
--- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2
* Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4)