Description

Oil Dedicated to St Eustochia Calafato

The St Eustochia Calafato is dedicated to the Franciscan Italian saint belonging to the Order of the Poor Clares.

She was born in a village near Messina, Italy. Most of what is known about her comes from the biography written two years after her death.  It was written by one of her fellow nuns, Suor Jacopa Pollicino.  However, this biography was only discovered in the 1940s.

St. Eustochia, born was the daughter of a rich merchant of Messina.. While her mother was pregnant with her, Messina was stricken with the plague.  Consequently, her parents fled the city for the small town of Santissima Annuziata, near Messina.  There the child was born on 25 March 1434, the feast of the Annunciation.  Also, in that year it was Holy Thursday.

Eustochia joins the Poor Clares

From an early age she was noted for her beauty.  Nonetheless, against her parents’ wishes, at the age of 15 she determined to take religious vows. She chose to enter the convent of Basicò, a house of Poor Clares.  Also, it seems that her brothers threatened to burn down the convent if she persisted in her plan. However, this did not deter her. She took the name Eustochia.  Subsequently, she remained at Basicò for over 10 years. Eustochia became known among the sisters for her conspicuous devotion and austerities. She frequently kept vigils, fasted often, and employed corporal mortifications.

St. Eustochia was a great lover of that poverty which marked the Poor Clares.  She felt that Basicò did not adhere strictly enough to the rule in this regard.  She discussed her misgivings with the sisters and the abbess.  With the approval of Pope Calixtus III, in 1464 she decided to found a new convent which became known as Montevergine.  The building project  apparently completed through the funding of a wealthy relative. St. Eustochia chosen abbess, and at the time of her death the convent was home to 50 sisters. She died on 20 January 1485, at the age of 50.

St. Eustochia was beatified in 1782 by Pope Pius VI.  She canonized on June 11, 1988 by Pope John Paul II.  Her incorrupt body rests in the Sanctuary of Montevergine in Messina  This ancient monastery was founded by her around in 1459.