Narcisa de Jesús Martillo Morán was an Ecuadorian virgin and Dominican tertiary in the Roman Catholic Church. Martillo was known for her charitable giving and strict devotion to Jesus Christ while living a virginal and austere life of prayer and penance. Her devotion to prayer and the mortification of the flesh was strong and it led her to the decision to live as a member of the Third Order of Saint Dominic in Patrocínio (Peru), where she died on 8 December 1869. Narcisa de Jesús was beatified on 25 October 1992.
Ludovica Albertoni was an Italian Roman Catholic noblewoman from the Renaissance period and a professed member of the Third Order of Saint Francis. The death of her husband prompted her to dedicate her life to the service of the poor in Rome and she was also known for her ecstatic experiences.
The Florentine banking family of the Cerchi, minor nobles of the Valdarno, with a seat especially at Acone near Pontassieve, settled in Florence in the early thirteenth century and increased their fortunes. The family became the heads of a consortium of the prominent Guelfs that securely controlled Florence after the battle of Benevento in 1266. In Florence, the Cerchi purchased some of the ancient structures in the closely packed inner city formerly belonging to the counts Guidi, cheek-by-jowl with the proud Florentine family of the Donati, with whom their growing mutual antagonism was expressed in violent episodes that polarized Florence within a couple of decades in a virtual civil war that aligned behind two captains, Corso Donati of the Neri Guelf faction— the "Black" Guelfs of the old noble oligarchy— and Vieri de' Cerchi of the Bianchi, the moderate party that represented itself as champions of working people. The resulting violence lasted, with irruptions of tranquility, into the fourteenth century.
Innocenzo da Berzo, born Giovanni Scalvinoni, was an Italian Roman Catholic priest and a professed member of the Order of Friars Minor. Scalvinoni assumed his new religious name upon his profession as a Capuchin friar.
Maria Luise Merkert was a German Roman Catholic professed religious and the co-foundress of the Sisters of Saint Elizabeth. Merkert worked to help those in need including the poor and ill and tended to them with her older sister until her sudden death and the death of her other companions - this left Merkert alone to found and maintain her order as its first Superior General from 1859 until her death.
Cecilia Eusepi was an Italian Roman Catholic and a professed member from the Secular Servites. Eusepi died of tuberculosis at 18 years of age, but only after her confessor advised her to keep a journal of her own life, which she titled Storia di un Pagliaccio, for she considered herself to be a "little clown" and "a half-stupid clown good for nothing"; she wrote that it must be her extreme weakness that appealed to God.
Jeanne-Germaine Castang – in religious Marie-Céline of the Presentation – was a French Roman Catholic nun from the Poor Clares. Her childhood was marked with lameness and she suffered a noticeable limp for the remainder of her life after contracting the disease in 1882 and an operation for pain relief in 1891. Her desire for the religious life began in her childhood and after being turned from the Sisters of Saint Joseph she managed to be admitted into the Poor Clares where she soon became ill with tuberculosis. She was permitted to make her vows well before the usual time since she was in poor health.
Elisabetta Canori Mora was an Italian member of the Third Order of the Most Holy Trinity. Mora married an abrasive husband who remained unfaithful and abusive to her but at the time of her death secured his repentance, and he became a priest. Mora had a range of spiritual experiences in which she heard the voice of God and visions of the Madonna and other saints while also experiencing religious ecstasies during her life.
Jeanne-Marie de Maille was a French Roman Catholic anchoress and a member of the Third Order of Saint Francis. Maille was born to nobles and married a nobleman herself though remained childless since she decided to remain chaste with spousal permission. The pair lived together until her husband died during a conflict. Subsequently, Maille became an anchoress at a church where she was characterised by humility and holiness. Pope Pius IX confirmed her beatification on 27 April 1871.
Małgorzata Szewczyk, also known by her religious name Łucja, was a Polish religious sister and the foundress of the Daughters of the Sorrowful Mother of God – or "Seraphic Sisters"; she was also a member of the Third Order of Saint Francis. Her life was dedicated to the care of ill people and she even spent a long period to that end in Israel and Palestine before returning to her native Poland where she became a close collaborator of Honorat Kozminski. Her initiatives to aid the poor and those in need included tending to elder women in her apartments or in going to hospitals and in the streets to help those that needed her charitable assistance.
Elisabetta Sanna was an Italian Roman Catholic from Codrongianos Province of Sassari who was an active member of both the Secular Franciscan Order and the Union of the Catholic Apostolate. In the latter she was a friend and compatriot of Vincent Pallotti. As a result of smallpox, Sanna was for the most part disabled and further ailments prevented her from returning to her hometown after departing on a pilgrimage; this forced her to take up residence in Rome where she later died.
Maria Assunta Pallotta, born Assunta Maria Pallotta, was an Italian Roman Catholic nun who served as a member of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary and also as part of the missions to China in the aftermath of the Boxer Rebellion.
Maria Rosa Flesch, was a German religious sister in the Roman Catholic Church. She founded the Franciscan Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Angels, whose first Mother Superior she was.
María del Tránsito Cabanillas was an Argentine Roman Catholic Franciscan tertiary and the founder of the Franciscan Tertiary Missionary Sisters. Upon her solemn profession she assumed the religious name María del Tránsito de Jesús Sacramentado. Cabanillas was beatified on 14 April 2002.
Maria Bagnesi, TOSD was an Italian Catholic professed member of the Third Order of Saint Dominic. Bagnesi remained confined to her bed for most of her life after falling ill upon receiving news that her father arranged a marriage for her – she escaped this fate but remained in her room where people flocked to seek her counsel. Due to her devotion to Bartholomew the Apostle, she assumed the religious name Maria Bartolomea. Pope Pius VII beatified her in 1804.
Blessed Marco da Montegallo was an Italian Roman Catholic priest from the Order of Friars Minor. He was born to a nobleman and served as a doctor in Ascoli Piceno before he was pressured into marriage in 1451 - the couple annulled their marriage after both entered the religious life. Father Marco is best known for establishing pawnshops for the poor across various Italian cities and for being a preacher of love.
Paola Gambara Costa was an Italian Roman Catholic professed member of the Third Order of Saint Francis. She was born to nobles and married in 1475 to the nobleman Lodovico Antonio Costa - and had one child - who soon acquired a mistress and chastised her for her generous nature towards the poor and ill. Her husband later repented and died leaving her widowed and she died not long after this.
Marianna Fontanella, OCD, also known as Maria degli Angeli or Mary of the Angels, was an Italian Catholic member of the Discalced Carmelites. Fontanella studied with the Cistercians as a child and entered the Discalced Carmelites despite the protests of her mother and siblings. She soon became a noted abbess and prioress and in 1703 inaugurated a new convent of which she herself oversaw the establishment.
Pietro Corradini was an Italian Roman Catholic priest and a professed member of the Order of Friars Minor. Corradini served in several leadership positions within his order which bought him into contact with the likes of James of the Marches and Camilla Battista da Varano - he was her confessor and spiritual director - while in turn being a well-known figure due to his mild mannered nature and for his preaching abilities.
Melchor Chyliński - in religious Rafał - was a Polish Roman Catholic priest and a professed member from the Order of Friars Minor Conventual. He first served as a soldier but decided to instead become a priest and so entered the Franciscans and made his profession prior to ordination. He also became known for his simplistic preaching and for his generous outreach to the poor through the distribution of clothing and food.
