Blessed Michelina of Pesaro
Also known as
- Michelina Metelli
- Metelli Malatesta
- Michalina…
Profile
Born to the wealthy Italian nobility, at age twelve Michelina was given in an arranged marriage to Duke Malatesta, the lord of Pesaro, Italy. Mother of one. She was widowed in 1320, and her son died soon after. Her chambermaid, confidant and friend, Blessed Soriana, helped her deal with her grief by helping her become stronger in her faith. Left alone, Michelina gave away all her wealth to widows, orphans and those in prison for debts, then joined the Franciscan Third Order, and gave over the rest of life to prayer and penance. Her family, thinking that she had been driven insane from grief, had Michelina briefly locked up for what they considered her own good, but she was eventually released and resumed her chosen life. In 1347, with Blessed Francis Zanferdini of Pesaro, she co-founded the Confraternita dell’Annunziata (Confraternity of the Annunciation) with a mission to help the poor, care for the sick, and bury the dead. Several times she received visions of Christ speaking to her from the cross. Late in life she made a pilgrimage to the Holy Lands where she may have received the stigmata.
Born
- 19 June 1356 in Pesaro, Italy of natural causes
- interred in the sanctuary of San Maria delle Grazie in Pesaro
- relics re-enshrined in an urn in 1919
- in 1393, Bishop Francesco III of the Archdiocese of Pesaro, Italy granted the Confraternita dell’Annunziata the right to annually celebrate a feast of their founders, Blessed Michelina and Blessed Francis Zanferdini
- 13 April 1737 by Pope Clement XII (cultus confirmed)
- against death of children
- against mental illness; of mentally ill people
- in-law problems
- widows
- Confraternita dell’Annunziata (Confraternity of the Annunciation)
- Pesaro, Italy
- young Franciscan tertiary kneeling in ecstasy in the midst of a storm with a pilgrim‘s hat and staff beside her
- Franciscan tertiary in ecstasy at Calvary
MLA Citation
- “Blessed Michelina of Pesaro“. CatholicSaints.Info. 17 June 2020. Web. 22 January 2021. <>