St. Virginia Centurione Bracelli

St. Virginia Centurione Bracelli was born on 2 April 1587 into a noble family of Genoa, Italy, and died there on 15 December 1651. Married against her own wish for the religious life to a young nobleman who died after a few years, she was left a widow at twenty with two small daughters; refusing all offers of remarriage, she consecrated herself to God and devoted her life and fortune to the service of the poor, the sick, and abandoned children.

Amid the wars, plague, and famine that afflicted Genoa, she gathered the destitute and the orphaned into places of shelter, forming her helpers into what became the Sisters of Our Lady of Refuge on Mount Calvary. She cared for body and soul alike, teaching the faith and reconciling enemies, and after her death her charitable works continued to spread. Revered for her humility and boundless charity, she was canonized by Pope St. John Paul II in 2003, and her memory is kept on 15 December.