Florentina, St.

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FLORENTINA, ST.

Virgin; fl. in or near Seville, c. 600. She and (St.) Fulgentius (of Écija) were born between their Greek-named brothers (SS.) leander and isidore, both of whom became bishops of seville. Leander, who seems to have endowed Florentina (Florence) with a convent, wrote for her and her community the De institutione virginum et contemptu mundi, known in manuscripts from Betica (ninth century), San Millan (11th), silos (11th), and monte cassino (13th). The work exalts consecrated virginity and offers a "rule" of 31 chapters for virgins in monasteries. Isidore dedicated his De fide catholica contra Judaeos to Florentina. Her relics, discovered with those of Fulgentius near Guadalupe (c. 1330), were shared between the escorial and Murcia (1593). The cult of Florentina, patroness of Plasencia, dates from the 15th century.

Feast: June 20.

Bibliography: a. c. vega, S. Leandri Hispalensis De institutione virginum et contemptu mundi (Escorial 1948), originally pub. in La Ciudad de Dios 159 (1947) 357394. j. madoz, Analecta Bollandiana 67:407424. g. bardy, Catholicisme 4:1349. a. m.. zimmermann, Kalendarium Benedictinum: Die Heiligen und Seligen des Benediktinerorderns und seiner Zweige (Metten 193338) 2:340341.

[e. p. colbert]

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Florentina, St.

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