Blessed Paula Gambara Costa
Blessed Paula Gambara Costa (Italian: Paola Gambara Costa; 3 March 1463 – 24 January 1515) was an Italian noblewoman and professed member of the Third Order of Saint Francis whose life was shaped by the tensions of an unhappy aristocratic marriage and by an unflinching commitment to charity and prayer. Born the eldest child of the noble house of Gambara in Brescia, she was married at about the age of twenty-two to Count Lodovico Antonio Costa, a man whose infidelities and hostility to her devout ways caused her prolonged suffering over many years. Rather than abandoning her religious fervour, she joined the Franciscan Third Order in 1491 under the guidance of the renowned moral theologian and Franciscan friar Blessed Angelo Carletti di Chiavasso, and devoted herself to visiting the sick and giving alms to the poor, at times giving the very shoes from her feet to those in need.[1][2]
In the last decade of her life Paula saw her husband undergo a dramatic conversion following what the family regarded as a miraculous healing, and the two were briefly reconciled before his death. She herself survived him by some eleven years, dying at Binasco, near Milan, on 24 January 1515. Her cult was confirmed by Pope Gregory XVI on 14 August 1845. Her feast is observed on 24 January (on 23 January in the Diocese of Brescia). She is venerated as a patron of those in difficult marriages, married couples, Franciscan tertiaries, victims of adultery, and widows.[1][3]
Stored in Cargo: Blessed Paula Gambara Costa
| Blessed Paula Gambara Costa | |
|---|---|
| Feast Day | January 24 |
| Profession | Laywoman; Franciscan tertiary; noblewoman; widow |
| Rel. Affiliation | Catholic Church; Secular Franciscan Order (Third Order of Saint Francis) |
| Patronage | Difficult marriages; married couples; Franciscan tertiaries; victims of adultery; widows |
| Attributes | Franciscan cord; alms for the poor; roses |
| Birthplace | Verolanuova, Brescia, Duchy of Milan (modern Lombardy, Italy) |
| Death Place | Binasco, Duchy of Milan (modern Province of Milan, Lombardy, Italy) |
| Cause of Death | Fever; died January 24, 1515 at Binasco, after receiving last rites |
| Primary Shrine | Diocese of Brescia, Lombardy, Italy |
| Liturgical Class | Not included in the General Roman Calendar; observed by the Secular Franciscan Order and in the Diocese of Brescia (23 January) |
| Historic Class | Not included |
Biography
Birth and noble family
Paola Gambara was born on 3 March 1463 at Verolanuova (historically Verola Alghise), a small town in the province of Brescia then within the Duchy of Milan.[1] She was the firstborn of seven children of Giampaolo Gambara, a nobleman of the prestigious Gambara family, and his wife Taddea Caterina Martinengo — another of the great Brescian noble houses.[1][2] Her siblings included a sister, Marietta, who would enter religious life, and several brothers.
From childhood, Paula showed a strong inclination toward prayer and spiritual reading. She harboured a desire for religious life and had hoped to enter a convent, but as the eldest daughter of a noble house her family's expectations ran otherwise. Her vocation was redirected, not abandoned.[3]
Marriage and its trials
In the autumn of 1485, Paula was married to Count Lodovico Antonio Costa, Lord of Benasco, a Piedmontese nobleman. The match was arranged in the usual manner of noble families: no account suggests Paula was consulted about her own wishes.[1] A son, Giovanni Francesco (named in honour of Saint Francis of Assisi), was born in 1488.[1]
The marriage proved a heavy cross. Lodovico Costa was by temperament worldly, disinclined to religion, and before long took a mistress. He resented his wife's piety and her readiness to give away to the poor money and goods that he regarded as part of the household. On at least one occasion he struck her for removing her shoes in winter to give them to a barefoot elderly woman; Paula accepted the rebuke with equanimity.[2][3] She sought guidance from her confessor and from her faith, choosing patience over recrimination and prayer over bitterness.
Entry into the Franciscan Third Order
Seeking a framework for her spiritual life that the circumstances of her marriage would allow, Paula turned to Blessed Angelo Carletti di Chiavasso (c. 1411–1495), a Franciscan Friar Minor of wide reputation as a moral theologian and spiritual guide, known for his Summa Angelica de Casibus Conscientialibus.[2] Under his direction she joined the Third Order of Saint Francis in 1491, receiving the Franciscan cord and dedicating herself more formally to a life of prayer, penance, and active charity.[1][2]
Her charitable works increased. She visited the sick in their homes, gave alms to the poor beyond what the household accounts could easily spare, and is said to have shown genuine compassion even toward her husband's mistress on the occasion of the woman's death.[3]
Her husband's conversion
In 1504, Count Lodovico Costa fell gravely ill. Paula persuaded him to travel to Cuneo, in Piedmont, where Blessed Angelo Carletti had died in 1495 and where his tomb had become a centre of local veneration. There, following prayers at Angelo's grave, the count is said to have experienced a sudden and inexplicable recovery that the family attributed to miraculous intercession.[2][3] Moved by the experience, Lodovico underwent a genuine conversion: he acknowledged the holiness of his wife's life, approved her works of charity, and consented to her wearing the Franciscan habit in public. He undertook a pilgrimage of thanksgiving to the shrine and celebrated a banquet in commemoration of his healing. The reconciliation of the couple, though brief, was real. Lodovico Costa died not long afterward, still in 1504, as a man at peace with his God and with his wife.[2]
Paula survived her husband by more than ten years, continuing her charitable works and her life of prayer as a widow.
Death
Paula Gambara Costa died on 24 January 1515 at Binasco, near Milan, from a severe fever. She had received the last sacraments before dying. Her remains were eventually enshrined in a monastery chapel, where local veneration of her began.[1][2]
Significant events
- Born 3 March 1463 at Verolanuova, Brescia, eldest child of the noble Gambara family.
- Married Count Lodovico Antonio Costa in autumn 1485; bore a son, Giovanni Francesco, in 1488.
- Sought spiritual direction from Blessed Angelo Carletti di Chiavasso.
- Joined the Third Order of Saint Francis, 1491.
- Husband experienced a reputed miraculous healing at Angelo Carletti's tomb in Cuneo, 1504; subsequently converted and died the same year.
- Widowed 1504; continued charitable works.
- Died 24 January 1515 at Binasco, near Milan, of fever.
- Cult confirmed by Pope Gregory XVI, 14 August 1845.
Significant locations
Legend
Birth location: Verolanuova, Brescia, Duchy of Milan (modern Lombardy, Italy)
Death location: Binasco, Duchy of Milan (modern Province of Milan, Lombardy, Italy)
Notable location: Birthplace; seat of the noble Gambara family (Verolanuova, Province of Brescia, Lombardy, Italy)
Notable location: City of her noble family; centre of her early life and charitable works (Brescia, Lombardy, Italy)
Notable location: Place of her death, January 24, 1515 (Binasco, Province of Milan, Lombardy, Italy)
Notable location:
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Dynamic content
Parishes
No parishes dedicated to Paula Gambara Costa have been added to the database yet.
Media
| Media | Length | AuthorCreator |
|---|---|---|
| The Life of Blessed Paula Gambara Costa | 5–15 minutes | Daily Lives of Franciscan Saints |
| The Life of Blessed Paula Gambara Costa | 5–15 minutes | Radio Immaculata |
Shrines
Dynamic shrines
No results
No shrines where this saint is the primary saint.
Canonization
Beatification (confirmation of cult)
The popular veneration of Paula Gambara Costa in the region of Brescia and among the Franciscan tertiaries was of long standing when Pope Gregory XVI formally ratified it on 14 August 1845, recognising the existence of a spontaneous, continuous, and enduring local cultus in her favour — an act constituting an equivalent beatification.[1][2] She has not been formally canonized.
Feast day
January 24 (January 23 in the Diocese of Brescia)
Veneration
Blessed Paula Gambara Costa is venerated by the Secular Franciscan Order and in the Diocese of Brescia as a model of holiness lived within the difficult circumstances of a troubled marriage. The Church presents her as a patron of those who suffer in difficult marriages, of married couples, of Franciscan tertiaries, of victims of infidelity, and of widows. Her example is one of patient endurance of injustice, sustained by prayer and active charity rather than withdrawal from the world — the distinctive path of the lay Franciscan tradition. Her story also reflects the broader importance of spiritual direction, particularly by the Franciscan friars, in shaping the devout laity of fifteenth-century northern Italy.[2][3]
Prayers
Authored
There are prayers authored by this saint in prayers list yet.
Intercessory
There are no prayers asking for this saint's intercession in prayers list yet.
External links
- Wikipedia – Paola Gambara Costa
- CatholicSaints.Info – Blessed Paula Gambara Costa
- Roman Catholic Saints – Blessed Paula Gambara Costa
- Anastpaul – Blessed Paola Gambara Costa, TOSF
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Wikipedia, "Paola Gambara Costa" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paola_Gambara_Costa).
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 "Blessed Paula Gambara Costa," CatholicSaints.Info (https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-paula-gambara-costa/).
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 "Bl. Paula Gambara Costa," Roman Catholic Saints (https://www.roman-catholic-saints.com/blessed-paula-gambara-costa.html).