Saint Veronica Giuliani

Servants of God

O.F.M.Cap. Abbess

She was born Ursula Giuliani, the daughter of a family of wealth and breeding, in Mercatello, Urbino, in 1660.   When She was four, Her mother took ill and on her death bed she consigned each of her children to one of the Sacred wounds of Christ crucified, and Ursula received Jesus's side pierced with a lance.
At the age of six, She was giving Her food and clothing to the poor.   Also early in life, She was pursuing a devotion to the Lord's Passion: She was intolerant of those who were not as devoted as she, but this tendency was tempered by a vision.

At the age of seven, She experienced Her first mystical experience. "I remember that at the age of seven or eight years, Jesus appeared to me on two different occasions in Holy Week".  She took great enjoyment in the increased station Her father's promotion to public office at Piacenza brought, and She reproached Herself for it in later years.. She decided to become a nun after experiencing a vision of the Virgin Mary, but Her father opposed Her plan, introducing Her to eligible suitors and causing Her to become ill from anxiety.

Her father finally gave in and, on July 17, 1677, Ursula was admitted as a Capuchiness postulant,  at the Capuchin convent of Cittą di Castello in Umbria. On October 28 she received the habit and the name Veronica.  Her novitiate was difficult. She became more intense in her devotion to the Passion of Christ and experienced a vision of Him bearing the cross.  During Her religious life She was frequently plagued by Satan. He pushed Her down stairs, appeared as Her Novice Mistress, and beat Her severely. To this Jesus showed his peculiar favour by appearing to Her in many forms and many times. At times She would fall to the ground, so wrapped up was She in mystical contemplation. 

  Jesus' wounds and Veronica's journal

It was at this time that Jesus transferred his crown of thorns to Her head. This was to be completed later by the transfer of all His wounds.  She began to experience a feeling of pain over Her heart. In 1693, She had another vision in which the chalice of Christ's sufferings was offered to Her. On Easter 1694 She was espoused to Jesus in a vision and the imprint of the Crown of Thorns appeared on Her head.Three years later She saw Blessed Virgin Mary say to Jesus, 'let thy bride be crucified with thee' Then at age 37, She received the stigmata in hands, feet, and side during a long period of ecstasy on April 5, 1697. Medical treatment was given, but the wounds did not heal.   Veronica underwent continuous scrutiny from doctors and examiners which added more to her constant agony. In Her journal She tells of the rays of light that came from Jesus' wounds and became small flames of fire, four in the form of great pointed nails, the fifth a spear-head of gleaming gold. She writes, "I felt a fearful agony of pain, but with the pain I clearly saw and was conscious that I was wholly transformed into God. When I had been thus wounded, in my heart, in my hands and feet, the rays of light gleaming with a new radiance shot back to the Crucifix, and illuminated the gashed side, the hands and feet of Him who was hanging there. Thus My Lord and My God espoused me, and gave me in charge to His Most Holy Mother for ever and ever, and bade my Guardian Angel watch over me, for He was jealous of His honor, and then thus He spoke to me: 'I am Thine, I give Myself wholly unto thee. Ask whatsoever thou wilt, it shall be granted thee.' I made reply: 'Beloved, only one thing I ask, never to be separated from Thee.' And then in a twinkling all vanished away."    Roused, She found the wounds aching and blood and water pouring from Her side. She did not want the wounds to be seen, but they were visible until 1700, because Jesus promised Her that the marks would only last three years. Thereafter, only Her side bled.

  The Bishop and the Abbess

Shortly after they first appeared, Her wounds were examined by the bishop of Cittą di Castello, who devised a special, fraud excluding regimen for Her. The wounds were bandaged, and the dressings fastened shut with the bishop's seal; She was separated from the other sisters and watched carefully. The wounds remained. During Her ecstasies She emitted a sweet odor of sanctity and She levitated. The local bishop was impressed by Her obedience and humility throughout and was convinced that the phenomenon was genuine. A favorable report was given to the Holy Office and Veronica was permitted to resume normal community life.
Veronica held most offices in the Monastery during Her life.  She was Novice Mistress and she insisted on the fundamental virtues fostered by reading Rodriguez's Christian and religious perfection, forbidding the novices to read books of advanced mysticism.  In 1716 She was appointed Abbess and remained so until Her death. Not only did the spiritual life of the community improve during her abbacy, but also their physical comfort for Veronica was a practical woman. She installed an elaborate water piping system into the convent and expanded and enlarged its buildings.

  Death and postmortem examination

It was on July 9th 1727 that Veronica passed away. To Her vow of obedience She was so devoted that She required a ministerial permission to die. Her death was directly or indirectly due to the stroke which She suffered on June 6th.
She had told Her confessor that the instruments of the Lord's Passion were imprinted on Her heart, and She drew their positioning for him more than once as She said they changed location over the years. Her heart was examined after death and "miraculously" showed images of a cross, crown of thorns, and chalice, as She had said it would. Examination also revealed a curvature of the right shoulder as if She had carried a heavy cross. (Imagination of the doctors?)
She was beatified in 1804, canonised on May 26th, 1839 and Her feast is celebrated on July 9th.

Her autobiography

At the command of Her confessor, She had written  an autobiographical account (10 volumes) which was used in the process of Her beatification and has been published since Her canonization. Her mystical experiences were accurately authenticated by eyewitnesses. Through She was in a state of almost continuous ecstacy, She was in no way visionary, but a most practical and level-headed religious. Levitations and stigmata, which ceased bleeding at a word of command, reveal Veronica as one of the best documented examples of how prolonged and intense consideration of Christ's Passion can have an extraordinary effect in the faithful.