St. Juliana Falconieri, OSM (June 19th)
Of the various saints and feast days celebrated this week: June 19 - Saint Romuald, Abbot June 19 - Saint Juliana Falconieri, OSM, virgin, foundress June 21 - Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, Religious June 22 - THE MOST HOLY BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST (Corpus Christi) I’ve chosen to write about Saint Juliana Falconieri, OSM , virgin, traditional foundress of the Servite Sisters. St. Juliana Falconieri, OSM , born around 1270 belonged to the Falconieri family, an important family of cloth merchants in Florence , Italy . Her uncle, St. Alexis Falconieri, OSM was one of the Seven Holy Founders (Feast Day, March 17th) of the Order of Servants of Mary. Under his influence, she entered the Servites as a Third Order (I’m assuming Regular) Sister, becoming the foundress of the Third Order Servite Sisters in Florence and became their Mother Superior until she died. Servite spirituality puts emphasis on both prayer and service. St. Juliana proved to be an classic example of both: In he...