Saint Christina Mirabilis

(Born 1150. Died 1224.)

Today is the feast day of St Christina Mirabilis - "Christina the Astonishing" as she's called in English. Considering the name of this blog, how could I resist mentioning her? The account of Christina's life is most incredible. Here's Thomas de Cantimpré's description of what happened at Christina's funeral:

Her lifeless body was laid out in the midst of her friends and her sisters wept copiously over it. The next day when it was borne to the church and while her Requiem Mass was being said, suddenly the body stirred in the coffin and rose up and, like a bird, immediately ascended to the rafters of the church. All those present fled and only her sister remained behind fearfully and stayed there immovably until Mass was finished, when she who had been kept in check by the Sacrament of the Church was forced to descend by the priest. Some say that the sensitivity of her spirit was revolted by the smell of human bodies. She soon returned home with her sisters and was reinvigorated by food.

After that:

Then Christina began to do those things for which she had been sent back [to the world] by the Lord. She crept into fiery ovens where bread was baking and was tormented by fires &mdash just like any of us mortals — so that her howls were terrible to hear. Nevertheless when she emerged, no mutilation of any sort appeared in her body.

Some of Christina's contemporaries thought she was a holy woman; others thought she was raving mad...that's probably why she came to be a patron saint for the mentally ill. I suppose I'll have to claim her as patron saint of Mirabilis.ca, too, although I like to believe that I'm quite sane!