April 26 + Saint Aldobrandesca

Aldobranesca, commonly known as Alda, was born in Siena, Italy, the daughter of the noble Pedro Francisco Ponzi and Ines Bulgarini, whom God had shown in a dream that He had chosen the child for Himself.

After being carefully educated and instructed, she was given as a wife to a man “virtutibus ornatissimus” - decorated with virtues - Bindo Bellanti, with whom, however, she had no children.

After seven years of marriage and her husband's premature death, Alda wore the habit of the Third Order of the Humiliati. She devoted herself to almsgiving and asceticism on a small property outside Siena. She experienced visions of Jesus performing the deeds recorded in the gospels.

Alda gave up her hermitage and went to live and work in a hospital in order to take care of the sick. Members of the staff regarded her as a fraud and wanted to prove her trances and ecstasies false. Therefore, while she was in a mystical ecstasy, they pricked her with sharp pins and put lit candles to her hands and feet. She did not respond in any way to these provocations, only feeling the pain much later, when she came out of the trance. Her patience and forgiveness — saying merely "May God forgive you," indicating her humility — in response to such treatment caused her to eventually win over the staff.

The act of forgiveness tells us more about Alda than all of her paranormal experiences. Visions and ecstasies may be evidence of a supernatural touch, but mercy expressed to others is a sure sign of divine love.

While ministering to the sick, she performed several miraculous cures. According to her biographer, on at least three occasions, making the sign of the cross over the patient was sufficient to immediately heal the affliction. Alda performed her charitable works daily right up to her death on April 26, 1309.