From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   The Way Comes to You   
      
   "Our Lord said: "I am the Way, I am the Truth, I am the Life." The   
   Truth, all the while remaining with the Father, became the Way also   
   when he assumed our flesh.   
      
   No one says to you: "Labor and find the Way" so that you may come to   
   the Truth and the Life. Get up, lazy one! The Way himself has come to   
   you and roused you from slumber."   
   --St. Augustine--Sermon 142, 1   
      
   Prayer: How great was your love for us, kind Father! You did not spare   
   your sole-begotten Son but surrendered him for the sake of us sinners!   
   Confessions 10, 43   
      
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       • 15 November – Blessed Lucia of Narni OP   
      
   (1476-1544)   
   Virgin, Tertiary of the Order of Preachers, Mystic, Stigmatist,   
   Ecstatic, Married but remained chaste and fulfilled her vow of   
   Virginity before she left her marital home and entered a Convent. Born   
   on 13 December 1476 in Narni, Umbria, Italy as Lucia Brocadelli and   
   died on 15 November 1544 at the Saint Catherine of Siena Convent in   
   Ferrara, Italy of natural causes. Patronage – of Narni, Italy. Also   
   known as – Lucy Brocadelli, Lucy de Alessio, Lucia Broccadelli. Her   
   body is incorrupt.   
      
   Already very early it became evident to her pious Italian family that   
   this child was set for something unusual in life. Lucia was born in 13   
   December 1476 on the feast day of Saint Lucia of Syracuse, the eldest   
   of eleven children of Bartolomeo Brocadelli and Gentilina Cassio, in   
   the Town of Narni (then called Narnia) and in the region of Umbria.   
      
   When Lucia was five years old, she had a vision of the Child Jesus   
   with Our Lady. Two years later, Our Lady appeared with Child Jesus,   
   Saint Catherine of Siena and Saint Dominic. Jesus gave her a ring and   
   Saint Dominic gave her the scapular. At age 12, she made a private vow   
   of total consecration, determined, even at this early age, to become a   
   Dominican. However, family affairs were to make this difficult. During   
   the following year Lucia’s father died, leaving her in the care of an   
   uncle. And this uncle felt that the best way to dispose of a pretty   
   niece was to marry her off, as soon as possible.   
      
   The efforts of her uncle to get Lucia successfully married form a   
   colorful chapter in the life of the Blessed Lucia. Eventually the   
   uncle approached the matter with more tact, arranging a marriage with   
   Count Pietro of Milan, who was not a stranger to the family. Lucia   
   was, in fact, very fond of him but she had resolved to live as a   
   religious. The strain of the situation made her seriously ill. During   
   her illness, Our Lady appeared to her again, accompanied by Saint   
   Dominic and Saint Catherine and told her to go ahead with the marriage   
   as a legal contract but to explain to Pietro that she was bound to her   
   vow of virginity and must keep it. When Lucia recovered, the matter   
   was explained to Pietro and in 1491 the marriage was solemnised.   
      
   Lucia’s life now became that of the mistress of a large and busy   
   household. She took great care to instruct the servants in their   
   religion and soon became known for her benefactions to the poor.   
   Pietro, to do him justice, never seems to have objected when his young   
   wife gave away clothes and food, nor when she performed great   
   penances. He knew that she wore a hair-shirt under her rich clothing   
   and that she spent most of the night in prayer and working for the   
   poor.   
      
   But when, after having disappeared for the entire night, Countess   
   Lucia returned home early in the morning in the company of two men and   
   claimed that they were Saints Dominic and John the Baptist, Pietro’s   
   patience finally gave out. He had his young wife locked up. Here she   
   remained for the season of Lent; sympathetic servants brought her food   
   until Easter. Being allowed to go to the Church, Lucia never returned.   
   She went to her mother’s house and on the Feast of the Ascension,   
   1494, 8 May she put on the habit of a Dominican tertiary.   
      
   Count Pietro was furious, burned down the Dominican Priory and even   
   tried to kill her spiritual director who had given her the habit. Rich   
   and influential, he continued to try to bring her back. The following   
   year, Lucia went to Rome and entered the Monastery of the Dominican   
   tertiaries near Pantheon. Her sanctity impressed everyone so much that   
   by the end of the year, with five other Sisters, she was sent by the   
   Master General of the Dominicans, to start a new Monastery in Viterbo.   
      
   On Friday, 25 February 1496, Lucia received the Stigmata, the Sacred   
   Wounds. She tried very hard to hide her spiritual favours because they   
   complicated her life wherever she went. She had the stigmata visibly   
   and she was usually in ecstasy, which meant a steady stream of curious   
   people who wanted to question her, investigate her, or just stare at   
   her. Even the Sisters were nervous about her methods of prayer. Once   
   they called in the Bishop, and he watched Lucia with the sisters for   
   12 hours, while she went through the drama of the Passion.   
      
   The Bishop hesitated to pass judgement and called for special   
   commissions; the second one was presided by a famous Inquisitor of   
   Bologna. All declared that her Stigmata were authentic. Here the   
   hard-pressed Pietro had his final appearance in Lucia’s life. He made   
   a last effort to persuade her to come back to him. After seeing her,   
   he returned to Narni, sold everything he had and became a Franciscan.   
   In later years, he was a famous preacher.   
      
   The Duke of Ferrara was planning to build a Monastery and, hearing of   
   the fame of the mystic of Viterbo, asked Sister Lucia to be its   
   Prioress. Lucia had been praying for some time that a means would be   
   found to build a new Convent of strict observance and she agreed to go   
   to Ferrara. This led to a two-year battle between the Towns. Viterbo   
   had the Mystic and did not want to lose her; the Duke of Ferrara sent   
   first his messengers and then his troops to bring her. Much money and   
   time was lost before she finally escaped from Viterbo and was solemnly   
   received in Ferrara on 7 May 1499.   
      
   Various problems arose in the Convent due to the Duke bringing all   
   sorts of unsuitable people to view ‘his’ Convent and Stigmatist. the   
   Sisters petitioned the Bishop and, by the order of the Pope, he sent   
   ten nuns from the Second Order to reform the community. Lucia’s   
   foundation was of the Third Order; of women who remained part of the   
   laity even after their vows. The Second Order “real” nuns, according   
   to the chronicle, “brought in the very folds of their veils the seed   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)