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180 180 B. OR ST. CHRISTINA received hospitalitjon her first journey to Aesisi. Christina helped her to tend the sick, all the time macerating her own body for penance. She drove a nail through her foot, that she might feel the sufferings of Christ. She tied her head to the wall, that if it nodded during sleep she might immediately be awak- ened. She died of fever, aged twenty- two. She was credited with miracles both before and after her death. Hen- schenins, AA.SS., says that a contempo- rary Life of Christina was written by Coriolanus. Her Life, by Cornelius Curtius, 1636. B. or St. Christina (U), Feb. 12, Jan. 18. Of Aquila. f 1^^3. Of the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine^ Matthia Licarelli was born of humble parents at Lucolo, in the territory and diocese of Aquila. Pious and self-deny- ing from her earliest years, she would not wear ornaments or have any trim- ming on her clothes. She disfigured herself with long fasts, and, thinking herself still too pretty, she would not wash her &ce for months. In 1496, by special direction of Christ, she took the veil in the convent of St. Lucy, of the Order of the Hermits of St. Augustine, and with it the name of Christina. She had a little picture of St. Mark, which she prized very much. One of the nuns asked for it. Christina was very sorry to part with it, but thought it would be wrong to refuse. A few days afterwards St. Mark appeared to a painter named Silvester, who was painting a picture of that apostle. He bade him finish it with great care and diligence, and give it to Christina, and it was kept in her convent long after her death, and called B. Chris- tina's picture. She was a very fervent novice, and was chosen prioress at an unusually early age. Gregory XVI. approved her immemorial worship. Her Life, by Cornelius Curtius, Cologne, 1 636. Torelli, Secoli Augustiniani, viii, 267. P.B. B. Christina (15) Lubomirska. 17th century. A beautiful Polish lady of the same noble family as B. Sophia Lubomirska. In the family gallery of the Lubo- mirski at Janow, near Warsaw, Christina is represented (1) as a child, with her foot tied to the leg of a table as a punish- ment or to keep her out of mischief; (2) as a girl, kneeling in an ecstasy before an altar in her room. She was sister of Stanislaus Lubomir- ski, called, on account of his learning, the Polish Solomon ; and of Jerome Lubomirski, who was a companion of King John Sobieski in his victory over the Turks* in 1685. She married Felix Potocki. Christina had a rare talent for music and great skill in needlework. She pricked her finger with a golden needle, and, gathering up the blood on a pen, she wrote with it her resolution to lead a saintly life. She founded several convents, and was distinguished for charity and all other virtues. Her con- fessor wrote her Life, and called her a saint. Journal of Countess Krasinska, Ven. Christina ( i (5 ), Jan. 8 1 . Born at Cagliari, 1812; f 1836. Queen of Naples. Mary Christina Caroline Josephine Gaetana Ephisia of Savoy, daughter of Victor Emmanuel I., king of Sardinia. Wife of Ferdinand II., king of the Two Sicilies. Mother of Francis II., last Bourbon king of Naples. She had been married nearly four years when she died, fifteen days after the birth of her only child, and was buried in the Francis- can church of St. Clara in Naples. Very pious and amiable all her life, she dis- tinguished herself by two reforms in the society over which she presided. She would not suffer any detraction, swear- ing, improper stories or conversation at her court, nor would she allow any lady to appear there in the excessively low-necked dresses which were then too fashionable. Pope Pius IX., in 1859, declared her Venerable, and signed the decree intro- ducing the cause of her canonization. In 1866 the Congregation of Bites ap- proved the fame of sanctity attached to the virtues and miracles of this venerable servant of God, and the Pope confirmed their judgment. The cause was again before the congregation in 1873. A short Life of her written in Italian and translated into English and French. Diario di Boma, Giornale di Boma, Civilta Cattolica.