All Saints Week - Virginia Saint Virginia Centurione Bracelli

This week, All Saints Week, we will be learning about a different new-to-me Saint.  Today's Saint ... Virginia Centurione Bracelli.  She was born in 1587 to a noble family in Genoa.  Even though she felt a calling to religious life, she was forced to marry and had two children.  By age 20, she was a widow.

She refused a second marriage which her father tried to arrange, and instead dedicated herself to charitable works and assisting people who were poor and sick in her community.  She founded a center to assist the needy in her town and gave away more than half her wealth to charitable endeavors.

Later in life, she also acted as a peacemaker between noble houses. In 1647 she facilitated reconciliation between the Archbishop and the Government. She died in 1651 at the age of 64.  She was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 2003.

Read more about her here and here.