Elisabetta Vendramini
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bassano del Grappa, Vicenza, Republic of Venice
Padua, Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia
Elisabetta Vendramini | |
|---|---|
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| Born | 9 April 1790 Bassano del Grappa, Vicenza, Republic of Venice |
| Died | 2 April 1860 (aged 69) Padua, Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church |
| Beatified | 4 November 1990, Saint Peter's Square, Vatican City by Pope John Paul II |
| Feast | 2 April |
Elisabetta Vendramini (9 April 1790 – 2 April 1860) was an Italian Franciscan tertiary who established the Elizabethan Sisters in 1830 in Padua.[1] Her beatification was celebrated on 4 November 1990.[2]
Elisabetta Vendramini was born on 9 April 1790 in Vicenza.[1] She was educated in an Augustinian convent as a child and received her religious upbringing from both them and from her parents.[3]
In 1811 she became engaged – despite parental objection – to a man of humble origins from Ferrara.[2] She broke off this engagement on the night before her wedding in 1817[3][4] because she felt a clear and concise call to the religious life so that she could devote herself to the needs of the poor. She began to take care of children in her hometown and later joined the staff of a Capuchin orphanage in 1820.[3] In 1821 she became professed into the Third Order of Saint Francis. Vendramini relocated to Padua and worked with two of her friends at a tuition-free school.[3][2]
On 10 November 1828 she established the Franciscan Elizabethan Sisters in Padua – with the aid of the priest Luigi Maran (1794–1859) and named it in honor of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary.[1][4] The institute was set to follow the rule of Francis of Assisi – the rule that Pope Nicholas IV approved in 1289.[4] Her congregation distinguished itself in 1836 during an epidemic of fever.
She died on 2 April 1860. Her remains disappeared in 1872 after graves where she was located underwent a renovation.[2]
Her congregation was aggregated to the Order of Friars Minor on 19 February 1904 while Pope Pius X issued the decree of praise on 5 April 1910. It received full approval from Pope Pius XI on 18 June 1934. The order now operates in Kenya, Ecuador, Argentina, Egypt, Israel and in South Sudan amongst other states and as of 2005 has 117 houses with a total of 1032 sisters.[4]
