Blessed Michelina of Pesaro

Blessed Michelina of Pesaro Also known as

Michelina Metelli
Metelli Malatesta
Michalina…

19 June

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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.