On this day are jointly commemorated three of our Holy Father Saint
Dominic's eldest spiritual daughters, who appear to have been singularly dear
to him. Blessed Diana was a member of the noble family of D'Andalo, and it was
she who persuaded her father and grandfather to make over to the Friars
Preachers their rights over the Church of Saint Nicholas at Bologna, and to
give them land for the site of a Convent. Despising the pomps and vanities of
the world, she placed herself under the spiritual direction of Blessed
Reginald, who, on his departure for Paris, confided her to the care of the holy
Patriarch, Saint Dominic, and in his presence and that of Blessed Reginald,
Blessed Guala, the Community of Saint Nicholas, and many noble ladies of
Bologna, Diana bound herself by the vows of religion, though permitted for a
time to remain in her father's house. There she led a life of penance and
devotion, earnestly longing for the day when a Convent for religious women of
the Order should be founded in her native city.
Saint Dominic entrusted the execution of this design to four of the
principal Fathers at Bologna, charging them to begin it without waiting for the
completion of their own Priory. Many difficulties, however, arose, and Blessed
Diana had to encounter the most determined opposition on the part of her
family. She fled for refuge to a neighbouring Monastery, whence she was dragged
with such violence as to fracture one of her ribs. After remaining a prisoner
in her father's house for nearly a year, during which Saint Dominic consoled
her by his letters, she again escaped to the same Convent, where this time she
was suffered to remain until the new Convent of Saint Agnes was ready for her
reception. This was not until after the death of Saint Dominic.
During the Octave of the Ascension, A.D. 1223, Blessed Jordan, who had
succeeded our Holy Father in the government of the Order, installed Blessed
Diana and some other noble maidens of Bologna in their new home; and a few
weeks later, on the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, he gave them the habit and
afterwards admitted them to profession. To train them in religious life and in
the ceremonies of the Order, he summoned four of the nuns from Saint Sixtus in
Rome, and amongst them the Blessed Cecilia and Amata, the former of whom
belonged to the noble family of the Cesarini, and had joined the Community in
the Trastevere, which our Holy Father was commissioned to reform. When they
were transferred to the Convent of Saint Sixtus, Cecilia, then only seventeen,
was the first to throw herself at the feet of the Saint to beg for the habit of
the Order. She now, at the age of twenty-three, became the first Prioress of
the new Monastery at Bologna.
Of her companion, Blessed Amy or Amata, no particulars have been preserved.
Some authors have believed her to be identical with the possessed woman who
disturbed Saint Dominic's sermon at Saint Sixtus a few days after the
profession of the nuns, and who was by him delivered from her tormentor and
admitted into the Community, the Saint himself bestowing on her the sweet name
of Amata, or "the Beloved." But, as it has been proved that this Sister
went on pilgrimage to Saint James of Compostella at a date when the four
Sisters from Saint Sixtus were already settled at Bologna, the theory in
question is untenable.
Blessed Jordan watched with paternal tenderness over the young Community at
Saint Agnes's, whose fervour in penitential exercises he found himself obliged
to moderate. He often consoled them by his letters, and commended himself and
the success of his preaching to their prayers.
Blessed Diana lived in the Order for thirteen years in great humility and
love of poverty, and in such fervour of spirit as frequently by her burning
words to move the Sisters to tears of devotion. She happily departed to her
Spouse on the l0th of June, A.D. 1236.
Blessed Cecilia lived to extreme old age. To her we are indebted for a most
graphic and beautiful account of our Holy Father's life at Saint Sixtus and
Santa Sabina. She died in the odour of sanctity A.D. 1290, and was buried in
the same tomb with Blessed Diana and Amata. Their remains have been twice
discovered and honourably translated. Pope Leo XIII. has approved of the
veneration paid to these holy Virgins, and given permission for their Mass and
Office to be celebrated in the Archdiocese of Bologna and throughout the
Dominican Order.
Prayer
O God, who didst endow Thy blessed Virgin Diana with admirable fortitude of
spirit, and didst give her Blessed Cecilia and Amata as companions in treading
the path of Evangelical perfection, grant that we may be strengthened in
difficulties by their example and protected by their help in adversities.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
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