Saint Verdiana, Italian recluse (b. 1182)
Veridiana (Virginia Margaret del Mazziere) (1182 – 10 February 1242) is an Italian saint.
Born at Castelfiorentino, Tuscany, of a noble family, somewhat impoverished but still prestigious, Verdiana was noted from an early age for her generosity and sense of charity. She made a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. Upon returning to Castelfiorentino and feeling a desire for solitude and penance, she had herself walled up as an anchorite in a little cell contiguous to the oratory of San Antonio. She remained secluded there for 34 years under the obedience of a Vallumbrosan abbey (however, the Franciscans claim her as one of their tertiaries).
Like many recluses of her era, it is not certain whether Verdiana belonged to any particular monastic order. The Dominican order appropriated her after her death through the redaction of her vita, but probably belonged to none of the mendicant orders during her lifetime. One late account suggests that in 1221 she was visited by Francis of Assisi, who admitted her into his Third Order. It is more likely that she was associated with the local monastery in Castelfiorentino, which belonged to the Vallombrosan order, the economic success of which had so worried the bishops of Florence. Even this affiliation, however, most likely occurred after her death, as various monastic orders vied for “possession” of yet another popular saint.From a little window she spoke to visitors and received an insufficient amount of food. Tradition holds that two snakes penetrated her cell in the last years of her life. These increased her mortification of the flesh, but she never revealed their existence. Another local tradition holds that upon her death, the bells of Castelfiorentino began to ring unaided by any human hand, unexpectedly and simultaneously.
Her cult was approved by Pope Clement VII in 1533. Her feast day is 1 February.