Saint Hyacintha Mariscotti

Clarice Mariscotti was born in 1585 at Vignanello, near Viterbo in central Italy, into a noble family. As a young woman she was vain and worldly, and when the nobleman she hoped to marry chose her younger sister, she became bitter. Her family placed her in the convent of Franciscan tertiaries of San Bernardino in Viterbo, where she took the name Hyacintha but, for about ten years, lived comfortably with her own furnishings and little real devotion.

A serious illness, and the frank words of a confessor who saw her luxurious room, brought about a true conversion. She gave away her comforts, embraced prayer and penance and devoted herself to others. She founded two confraternities in Viterbo, one to care for the sick and the elderly, and another to help the poor who were ashamed to beg. She died on January 30, 1640, and was canonized in 1807.

Her body rests in the church of her convent in Viterbo, where she is honored as a patron of the city. Her story is a favorite example of the truth that it is never too late to begin again with God. The Roman Martyrology commemorates her on January 30.