Page:A Dictionary of Saintly Women Volume 2.djvu/69

57 B. MARY STORIONI 57 and to accompany in spirit the brothers who went to visit them. Mary had great gifts of God. She was credited with miracles during her life and after her death ; especially in aid of those in peril on the sea: Barcelona in those days had no harbour, and wrecks were frequent on the coast. She was buried in the church of the Brothers of Santa Maria de Merced in Barcelona. Her immemorial worship was sanctioned by the Pope in 1692. B,M. AA.SS, Bibadeneira, Sept. 25. Lambertini. Helyot. St Mary (48) Hurtado, O.S.D., suffered so much unkindness from her husband, often nearly losing her life, that after many years the religious authorities of Valladolid sanctioned her leaving him and taking the veil in the Convent of St. Catharine. She was sent hence to govern the Convent of Peni- tence. She performed a miraculous cure by her prayers with the aid of a crucifix to which she had a great devotion. She died covered with horrible wounds, which became clean and sweet the moment she was dead. Lopez, Historia de Sancio Domingo y de tu orden. B. Mary (49) of Jesus, a nun at Burgos in the 14th century. One of the oldest convents in Burgos was that of the most Holy Trinity, built by St. John of Matha, founder, c. 1200, of the Order of the Trinity for the Bedemption of Captives. In 1366, during the war between King Peter the cruel and his brother Henry of Trastamar, this con- vent was ordered to be destroyed, as it stood outside the walls and was a danger to the town and its inhabitants, be- cause it could be used as a fortress by the enemy. When they began to pull it down, a stone fell on the head of a crucifix over the altar, which there- upon shed drops of blood. B. Mary of Jesus and several other innocent and devout young nuns were present,and the blood fell on the clothes of some of them ; several drops on Mai*y's veil, as well as on the altar cloth. They col- lected all they could, and the crucifix told them that the small house in which they were living would become a great convent The blood-stained veil was preserved by the community, and the crucifix was removed to another church, where it continued to work miracles. In 1586 a good house and garden in Burgos were provided for the successors of those nuns. Florez, Espana Sagrada, B. Mary (50) Spesalasta, of Pisa, O.SJ)., -h c. 1393. When a baby and ill, she was put by her nurse in her bed in the balcony. An angel told her to have herself carried away, as the balcony and porch were going to fall, and when she was taken away, they fell. At five, she was taken in spirit to the prison of Peter Gambacorta, governor of Pisa, and father of Claba (8^. The Virgin Mauy told her she should say five aves daily for him. She had two husbands and eight children. When she had lost her second husband, four sons, and her mother, an angel informed her of their salvation, so she did not mourn. Christ appeared to her as a poor man, and she washed His wounded legs. The crucifix bowed to her. Pio. Eazzi. B. Mary (51) Storioni of Venice, July 2, 1379-1399, 0.S.D. The daughter of Nicholas Storioni, she was of noble birth, rich and beautiful. She was married at fourteen to a dissipated young nobleman, named Giannino della Pla^a. A few days after the marriage, he went off to the war then raging between the Lord of Mantua and the Duke of Milan. Mary remained at Venice and went to live with her mother, whose house was close to the Dominican church of St. Peter and St. Paul. She attended many sermons there, and was particularly touched by those of B. Thomas of Siena. At sixteen she made a general confession and began at once to renounce her vanities and luxuries. She went to her own room at the top of her mother's house, pulled out her beautiful lace and fashionable dresses and set to work to cut them all to pieces. Her mother found her thus emplojed and said, '* If you are deter- mined not to wear these things yourself, you might at least have given them to me for your sisters who are going to be married." Mary said she did not dare to leave it in her own power to resume those vanities. She secretly joined the