Joanna

ON BLESSED JOANNA, VIRGIN, AT BAGNO IN ITALY.

Joanna, of the Camaldolese order, at Bagno in Italy (Blessed)

[1] Ferrarius, in his Catalogue of the Saints of Italy, attests that Joanna, a Virgin of the Camaldolese order, has not yet been enrolled in the college of holy Virgins; nevertheless, her feast day is celebrated on this day with the permission of the Apostolic See. Concerning her, the same Ferrarius writes in his General Catalogue of Saints: The feast of Blessed Joanna. "At Bagno in Emilia, Blessed Joanna, a virgin and nun of the Camaldolese order." Arnold Wion writes: "At Bagno, St. Joanna, a nun of the Camaldolese order, at whose passing the bells rang without human assistance." Dorgani and Menard say the same, except that the latter calls her Blessed, not Saint. The same authors record her Translation on May 1, Translation. of which more below, thus: "On the same day, at Bagno, the translation of St. Joanna, of the Camaldolese order."

[2] The town of Bagno is described by Leander in his Romagna: "Further along the Savio the road leads to the town of S. Maria in Bagno, The town of Bagno. overlooking the right bank of the river, so named from the baths of medicinal waters, salutary for many infirmities both for drinking and bathing, which are here, and which are commemorated by Fazio:

'At the foot of certain Alps, in a bath I saw, Enclosed by a wall and with stones set therein, Which by night are a great aid to others.'

It is a quite handsome fortress. Not far from here the source of the Savio follows in the roots of the Alps. The valley through which it flows is very beautiful and frequented by settlers: it has many villages, and notably the very fine one of S. Pietro in Bagno, a thousand paces from the town of S. Maria. Once this entire valley was the possession of Counts who were named from Bagno and Iacciolo: but now it is largely under Florentine authority." So he writes. The Savio is now commonly called the Savio, and flows into the Adriatic Sea between Ravenna and Rimini.

[3] The Life of Blessed Joanna. We give a double Life of Blessed Joanna, both brief. The former was written in Italian by Silvano Razzi, volume 1, on women illustrious for holiness: the other was published by Philip Ferrarius in his Catalogue of the Saints of Italy, from the records of the Church of Bagno and the Camaldolese history of Antoninus of Florence, not yet seen by us.

LIFE

Written in Italian by Seraphino Razzi.

Joanna, of the Camaldolese order, at Bagno in Italy (Blessed)

From Seraphino Razzi.

[1] The body of Blessed Joanna rests in the sacred church of the abbey of S. Maria in Bagno. The town of Bagno. It is a celebrated town, because an enormous throng of people of every age and sex flocks there in the summer season, seeking, on the advice of physicians, a remedy against diseases from the baths of the salutary waters that spring up there.

[2] The people of Bagno contend that this blessed virgin was born there, The homeland of Blessed Joanna; and that from her earliest age she devoted her chastity to God and became a nun in the convent of St. Lucy, which at that time was not far removed from the town. Others assert that she was born in the village called Fontecluso, near the village of San Benedetto in the ridges of the Apennines, mentioned by the poet Dante; and that from there she went forth and devoted herself to the religious life in the convent of St. Lucy. Canto 16 of the Inferno.

[3] Be that as it may, since she had lived there for many years in holiness and had given many proofs of extraordinary sanctity, Her sanctity confirmed by miracle; (which, however, have not been committed to writing, or at least have perished, only the tradition handed down from ancestors preserving the memory that she was a holy woman) she at last obtained at her death this public testimony of divine power: that all the bells of that place rang of their own accord, with no mortal hand setting them in motion. The townspeople, therefore, with the greatest piety of spirit and the splendor of funeral rites that they could, laid her body in a stone chest.

[4] But when the monastery was afterward destroyed (which after her death had been called the monastery of Blessed Joanna), the sacred body was translated to the church of the town itself (which today is an abbey), enclosed in the same casket, The relics translated. on which a cross was engraved, along with certain characters expressing the year in which she departed this life, namely the thousandth. But since these are not sufficiently clear and distinct, others suppose that the year 1105 is signified by them. This at least is certain: that her body, as the remains of the Blessed customarily are, was solemnly translated in the year 1287, and an altar was dedicated to her by William, Bishop of Arezzo, and James, Bishop of Citta di Castello, on the Kalends of May. Both of them had invited, eight days before, all the neighbors to that translation and dedication, and specifically Gerard, then Prior of the hermitage of Camaldoli. Their Latin letter survives. Nor is it right to suppose that these things were done by them without the holiness of Joanna having been first legitimately investigated and proven.

[5] The people of Bagno profess that they have obtained many benefits by divine favor through her merits: Plague driven away by her aid. and the many votive offerings suspended at her tomb bear witness. On August 20, 1506, a new casket was fashioned for her and a new chapel was erected, with this inscription: "To the divine Joanna, for their homeland vindicated from the plague, the townspeople erected this urn. And here, translated, she lies."

"The blessed and distinguished virgin Joanna lies in this tomb."

ANOTHER LIFE FROM PHILIP FERRARIUS.

Joanna, of the Camaldolese order, at Bagno in Italy (Blessed)

[1] The homeland of Blessed Joanna. Joanna, born in a village of the territory of Bagno called Fontecluso, was received among the Lay Sisters in the monastery of nuns of St. Lucy, and shone especially for obedience and humility. Her virtues. God confirmed her sanctity with miracles. For when she had died, the bells of the churches of Bagno sounded with no one ringing them. Moved by which miracle, the clergy and people of Bagno Miracles after death. carried her body in a solemn procession and laid it in the principal church, with many miracles following after death.

[2] For when Bagno was most grievously afflicted by plague, as soon as the people, bound by a public vow, promised to build a chapel to Blessed Joanna, that pestilence immediately ceased. The plague extinguished. When the chapel was built, an altar was dedicated to her, with this inscription: "To the divine Joanna, for their homeland vindicated from the plague."

[3] This should not be wrapped in silence: that when certain persons secretly carried off a part of the relics by night, to be brought to their own homeland, Thieves of relics punished. though they walked throughout the entire night and believed themselves to be far from Bagno, in the morning they found themselves at the door of the church of Bagno. Wherefore, terrified by this event, they confessed their crime and restored the arm they had taken. She died on the seventeenth day before the Kalends of February, in the year after Christ's birth 1105.