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Blessed Christine of l'Aquila

January 18

Christine of l'Aquila (1480-1543) was a spiritual reformer who guided the nuns of her Augustinian monastery to a faithful pursuit of the ideals of Christian religious life, contrary to the loose spirit of the times that prevailed in all too many other monasteries.

Born Mattia Ciccarelli at Colle de Lucoli, l'Aquila, Italy in 1480, she learned prayer from her family.

She entered the Augustinian monastery of Saint Lucy in l'Aquila in 1505, taking the religious name Christine. Elected Abbess several times, she led her community by word and example. Under her guidance the monastery of Saint Lucy was faithful to the Augustinian ideals of common life.

Christine had a particular devotion to the Eucharist and to the Passion and Death of Christ.

She died January 18, 1543. She was originally buried at the Saint Lucy monastery. When this monastery was suppressed in 1908, her body was moved to another Augustinian monastery in l'Aquila, that of Sant'Amico.