Page:A Dictionary of Saintly Women Volume 1.djvu/192

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178 B. CHRISTINA of tbat chnrcli had any secret fault, and she nsed to reprove them with respect- ful childlike affection. Louis, count of Los, had a great reverence for her, and called her " mother." When he was guilty of any injustice she afflicted herself about it as if he were her own son, went to his palace, remonstrated with him, and obtained a reversal of his unjust decree. When he was dying he sent for her, confessed to her all his sins from the time he was eleven years old, and en- treated her to pray for him; he then disposed of his worldly goods according to her advice. He died, and she saw his soul taken to purgatory and horribly tormented. His spirit returned to en- treat her help, and she promised to take some of his suffering for him. She visited the places where he used to sin, and those where he amused himself with the vanities of the world, and wept bitterly for him. Towards the end of her life she again took to living in desert places, only coming at rare intervals among her fellow-creatures to get food. No one dared to ask her any questions. At last she returned to St. Tron, and made the convent of St. Catherine her usual abode. The venerable Thomas, priest of St. Tron, watched her secretly when she thought herself alone in the church. He saw her throw herself like a bag of dry bones before the altar, and beat herself, and heard her revile her body and lament with tears and sobs that she was joined to it. After an interval of silence she began to laugh, and, taking her feet in both her hands, she kissed them, and said, "Oh, sweet body, why did I abuse and maltreat you, who have suffered so many torments with so much patience in obedience to the spirit?" Then she kissed hsrself all over. She continued her life of grief, lamentation, and privation until very shortly before her death, when her strength was ex- hausted, and she was wasted to a shadow. At her request, Beatrice, one of the nuns of St. Catherine's, made a little bed for her in her room. There she remained for a time, and then, feeling death approaching, she asked for the sacra- ments. After she had received them, Beatrice fell at her feet, and begged that before she died she would reveal certain things to her. As she did not reply, Beatrice thought she was medi- tating on something else, and presently left Christina alone in the room. Be- fore she returned Christina died. Boa- trice threw herself on the body, asked Christina why she had departed without taking leave of the sisters, and conjured her, by the obedience she had always shown her in life, to return and answer her questions. Christina therefore re- turned to life, and, after affectionately reproaching Beatrice for recalling her from the realms of bliss, bade her make haste and say what she had to say, that she might depart finally to her rest. When Christina had answered all Bea- trice's questions, the nuns, who had meantime gathered round, took leave of her, and consigned her, with prayers and blessings, to her third death. Her body was translated a few years after- wards, and miracles were wrought at her tomb. AAJSS. Her Life by Thomas Canti- pratano, O.S.D. Preger, Deutsche Mystik, Azvedo. Vaughan, B. Christina (lO), or Christiana, Jan. 21. "I" 1258. Daughter of Bernardo di Suppone, a nobleman of Assisi. A girl- friend of St. Clara (2) of Assisi, living in the same house. Christina went, in 1 2 1 ;$, to St. Francis, who was living in the convent of St. Mary of the Angels, and received from him the habit of the Minors. She joined Clara at S. Damiano, outside Assisi, and went with her, in 1216, to build, at the Fonto di Carpello, a village near Foligno, a convent called Sta. Maria di Caritate (St. Mary of Charity), or della Salute (of Salvation), and after two years she returned to 8t» Damian's, where she lived for forty-four years with the saint, and survived her five years. Jacobilli, Santi dcW Umhria, iii. 440. St. Christina (ll), daughter-in-law of St. Agatha, grand-princess of Eussia. St. Christina (12;, June 22, V. Of Stumbela, or Stommeln, in the diocese of Cologne. O.S.D. Born c. 1240; f i;312 or 1313, aged seventy. Daughter oi Heinrich Bruso, a peasant. At tei