CANONIZATION
OF
CAMILLA
BATTISTA
VARANO
Blessed
Camilla
Battista
Varano
was
born
in
Camerino
on
April
9,
1458,
of
both
Prince
Julius
Caesar
da
Varano
and
Lady
Cecchina
di
Maestro
Giacomo.
Her
life
was
deeply
tied
with
the
Order
of
Friars
Minor,
especially
to
the
figures
of
Br.
Domenico
of
Leonisa,
Br.
Pacifico,
and
Br.
Francesco
da
Urbino.
Around
the
age
of
8
or
10,
she
made
a
vow
to
meditate
every
Friday
on
the
Passion
of
the
Lord
and
to
shed
at
least
one
tear,
a
vow
she
was
able
to
keep
with
extraordinary
fidelity.
From
ages
18
to
21,
she
went
through
a
three-year
period
of
inner
spiritual
battles,
allured
by
the
things
of
the
world,
but
without,
however,
giving
up
on
her
suffering
Lord
for
whose
love
she
began
to
lead
a
more
ascetic
way
of
life.
In
fact,
regarding
this
time
of
her
interior
life,
she
wrote
with
conviction
that,
“Blessed
is
the
creature
who,
despite
any
temptation,
never
gives
up
the
good
she
set
out
to
do.”
During
the
Lent
of
1479,
on
the
vigil
of
the
Feast
of
the
Annunciation,
she
received
the
interior
light
to
understand
the
invaluable
gift
of
consecrated
virginity.
On
November
14,
1481,
she
was
admitted
into
the
monastery
of
the
Poor
Clares
of
Urbino
and
by
the
end
of
1483,
she
made
her
religious
profession.
During
the
first
days
of
January
of
1484,
she
returned
to
Camerino
with
8
of
her
companions
and
on
Jan.
4
she
started
the
new
community
of
Poor
Sisters
of
St.
Clare
in
the
monastery
her
father
had
purchased
from
the
Olivetan
monks.
Among
her
many
gifts
was
the
unquenchable
desire
to
share
in
the
interior
pains
of
her
Redeemer
during
his
Passion.
On
Jan.
28,
1505,
Pope
Julius
II,
her
admirer,
sent
her
to
found
a
new
community
of
Clares
in
the
city
of
Fermo,
where
she
stayed
for
two
years;
she
also
founded
another
community
of
Clares
at
San
Severino
in
the
Marches
during
the
years
1521-22.
Among
her
writings,
worthy
of
notice
is
the
section
on
“Purity
of
the
Heart”.
She
suffered
much
over
the
division
in
the
Church
instigated
by
Martin
Luther.
She
died
on
May
31,
1524,
at
the
age
of
66,
after
having
lived
43
years
in
the
intimacy
of
the
cloister.
Her
mortal
remains
rest
in
the
Monastery
of
the
Clares
of
Camerino.
On
October
17,
2010,
she
will
be
canonized
in
St.
Peter’s
Basilica
at
the
Vatican.
All
to
the
praise
of
Christ!
Amen!
Battista
da
Varano
(1458-1524):
A
Survey
of
Her
Life
and
Writing
as
a
Poor
Clare
Visionary
Brother
Paul
Lachance
ofm.
A
LIGHT
FOR
OUR
TIMES
Letter
of
the
Minister
General
on
the
occasion
of
the
canonization
of
CAMILLA
BATTISTA
DA
VARANO
OSC