Ortolana (Hortulana), Bl.
ORTOLANA (HORTULANA), BL.
Wife and mother; d. before 1238. A descendant of the noble Fiumi family, she grew up to be a very devout young woman. She made several pilgrimages to Monte Gargano and to Rome, and c. 1192 she undertook the hazardous journey to the Holy Land. On her return she married Count Favarone di Offreduccio of Assisi. She was the mother of four children, including St. clare of assisi and St. Agnes of Assisi. After the death of her husband, who had at first strongly opposed the religious vocation of their children, Ortolana joined the poor clares at the convent of San Damiano at Monticelli near Florence, where her third daughter, Beatrice, was also a nun. She was buried close to her daughters in the church of St. Clare at Assisi, and she is honored by the franciscans with the title of blessed.
Feast: Jan. 2.
Bibliography: ciro da pesaro, La beata Ortolana d'Assisi (Rome 1904). z. lazzeri, "Il processo di canonizazione di S. Chiara d'Assissi," Archivum Franciscanum historicum 13 (1920) 403–507. a. fortini, "Nuove notizie intorno a S. Chiara di Assisi," ibid. 46 (1953) 3–43. l. bracaloni, S. Chiara d'Assisi (2d ed. Milan 1949), passim. o. englebert, St. Francis of Assisi: A Biography, tr. e. m. cooper, 2d augm. ed. by i. brady and r. brown.
[b. j. comaskey]