Friday, January 16, 2015

BLESSED JULIA OF CERTALDO

Blessed Julia of Certaldo
Also known as Giulia della Rena da Certaldo, Julia della Rena
Feast day: February 15/9 January on some calendars/formerly 25 February
Born 1319 at Certaldo, Italy

Died 9 January 1367 of natural causes

Beatified 1819 by Pope Pius VII
Blessed Julia is a model of gospel living by a lay person and of mutual collaboration between religious and laity.


Born to an impoverished noble family.Julia della Rena was born at Certaldo, Italy, near Florence, about the year 1319. Orphaned at an early age, she was employed as a domestic in the service of the Tinolfi family in Florence where, in 1337 at the Augustinian church of the Holy Spirit, she became an Augustinian Secular. After returning to Certaldo, she retired to a life of solitude near the church of Saints Michael and James.At age 19 she joined the third order of Saint Augustine at Florence. Returning to her native Certaldo, she lived as an anchoress near the church of SS. Michael and James until her death at age 48 .For thirty years she led a life of penance and prayer. Upon her death in 1370 she was immediately venerated as a saintly woman by the faithful who had sustained her with their alms and revered her for her life of prayer and penance.

Julia’s mortal remains are venerated at Certaldo in the church of Saints Michael and James, which at one time was under the care of the Augustinians. In a number of instances the people of Certadlo attributed their deliverance from the plague to Blessed Julia.

Her feast is celebrated by the Augustinian Family on 15 February.


Sometimes she may be shown
woman wearing a black habit and white veil, and rescuing a child from a burning bed
woman giving flowers to children in winter
woman rescuing a drowning horseman

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