A widow from an honorable family of Siena, Alda joined the Third Order of the Humiliati and dedicated her life to the poor and to mortification. She is famous for having carved a nail from olive wood in the likeness of that of the Passion and for having endured abuse during her ecstasies at the hospital of Siena. She died in 1309, leaving behind a reputation for great charity.
Guided reading
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BLESSED ALDA, HUMILIATI RELIGIOUS (1309).
Renunciation and Eremitic Life
Widowed after seven years of marriage, Alda distributed her wealth to the poor of Siena and joined the Third Order of the Humiliati to lead a life of mortification.
Blessed Alda belonged to an honorable family of Siena. She l ost he Sienne Italian city defining the area of activity of the blessed. r husband after a union of seven years. She then left the city, sold all the goods she possessed there for the benefit of the poor, took the habit of the Third Ord er of the Humiliati, and Tiers Ordre des Humiliés Religious order to which Alda became affiliated. retired to a small country house where she led the most secluded and mortified life.
Visions and the relic of the nail
Alda receives precise visions of the nails of the Passion and carves a wooden replica, the conformity of which is validated by comparison with a royal relic.
Cruel temptations came to visit her there: to drive them away, she went so far as to press a crown of thorns into her head. Our Lord rewarded her perseverance with unstable favors. Thus, He showed her the shape and dimensions of the nails that had attached His holy body to the cross: one of the three nails, the one intended for the feet, was larger than the other two. She engraved the image so well in her memory that, taking a knife and an olive branch, she carved one perfectly similar: this wooden nail, later compared with the true nail kept in the treasury of the kings of France, was found to be in every way conformable. It was kept for more than three hundred years in the church of Saint Thomas in Siena, occupied by the Humiliati religious, until Pius V, the time at wh religieux Humiliés Religious order to which Alda became affiliated. ich they w ere s Pie V Successor to Pius IV, he supported Charles Borromeo in his reforms. uppressed.
Hospital service in Siena
Seeking total dispossession, she sold her remaining possessions and settled in the hospital of Siena to dedicate herself to works of charity.
But Alda still found herself too rich, even though she had only an empty gourd to hold her water and a wooden bowl to eat from, and all the income from her modest property was poured into the bosom of the poor: she sold this small property as well and came to live at the hospita l of Siena, where hôpital de Sienne Italian city defining the area of activity of the blessed. she gave herself over to all the good works that her ardent charity inspired in her.
Persecution, death and posterity
Mistreated by the hospice staff during an ecstasy, she died in 1309. Her cult declined following institutional changes in Siena.
She had been given, as a servant, a certain Jacomine who claimed to have seen the Saint walking constantly preceded by two torches: this same Jacomine, having one day surprised her in ecstasy, called the people of the hospice who had the barbarity to crucify her. When she came to herself, she was content to say to them: "May God forgive you". She died in 1309. Her cult, once very famous, was abandoned when the church of Saint Thom as, where her remai église Saint-Thomas Site housing the carved nail and the tomb of Alda. ns rest, was given to the Dominicans.
Ac ta Sanctoru Dominicains Religious order to which Magdeleine belonged. m.
Annexes & related entities
Structured data for exploration: events, miracles, quotes, places, attributes, patronages, and important entities cited in the text.
Key Events
- Married for seven years
- Widowhood and sale of her possessions for the benefit of the poor
- Joined the Third Order of the Humiliati
- Retreat in a country house and life of mortification
- Settled at the hospital of Siena to serve the poor
- Episode of the crucifixion by the people of the hospice during an ecstasy
Miracles
- Vision of the exact dimensions of the nails of the Passion
- Miraculous conformity of her olive wood nail with the true nail from the treasury of the Kings of France
- Apparition of two torches preceding her as she moved
- Mystical ecstasies
Quotes
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May God forgive you
Words addressed to her persecutors after being crucified during an ecstasy