St. Juliana Falconiere, is the foundress of the female branch of the Servite Order, the Mantellatas.
Gaudium Press English Edition
Newsroom (28/11/2021 09:41, Gaudium Press) (23/06/2022 08:34, Gaudium Press) In the XIII century, Florence had become one of the greatest wonders of Italy, for the beauty of its architecture, the rich commerce developed there and the value of the fabrics, paintings and other works of art produced there.
These wonders, however, could not satisfy the desires of seven prosperous merchants of the city, who sought a much more precious treasure. To obtain it, they decided to dedicate themselves to the service of the highest of sovereigns: Mary Most Holy. And this sublime exercise united and elevated them so much that, leaving their respective family names in the shadows, they passed into history as the Seven Holy Founders of the Order of the Servants of Mary, the Servites.
Carissimo Falconieri, Juliana’s father, knew them closely, for one of them was his brother Alexius. Wealthy and successful, he was not indifferent to their exemplary piety. Carissimo had gone through a state of conversion and was scrupulous that he had been dishonest in some of his business dealings, so, as an eventual reparation, he gave a lot of alms.
The model attitude of the Florentine aristocrat made a decisive mark on another member of this blessed family: his own daughter, who had been granted to him by Providence in 1270, when he and his wife were already in advanced age.
A soul full of great and pressing desires
Having lost her pious father when she was very young, Juliana gladly submitted to the influence of her religious uncle, whose long life of humility, dedication and self-giving touched her more deeply than her father’s charitable generosity. Alexis, for his part, recognizing the unusual blessing that hovered over his niece, pointed out to his sister-in-law that she had not given birth to a girl, but an “angel”…
With her soul always turned toward higher realities, the little girl progressed rapidly along the paths of virtue. She despised frivolous pleasures, extravagant adornments, fashionable clothes and showy hairstyles. She did not waste an instant of her time contemplating herself in the mirror; she spent it in more valuable practices, such as prayers, spiritual reading, and singing psalms in praise of God and his Blessed Mother.
Consecrated to God at the age of 14
In 1284, resisting her mother’s insistent requests that she marry, she took a vow of virginity. Docile to her uncle’s advice and admired for her conduct, she asked to be part of the Servites.
At the time, St. Philip Benitius was already the superior general of the order. Under his direction, a group of ladies had been created that would become the tertiary religious women of the Servite Order. Among them was a cousin of Juliana, called Joanna, and a sister of St. Philip himself. They became known by the name mantellate, because of the large black veil – in Italian, mantello – that covered their habit and went almost down to their knees.
It didn’t take long for the superior to discern in that adolescent’s pleas a special design of Providence. Her haste in giving herself to God at such a young age was a sign of a great vocation, and St. Philip granted her request, giving her the mantello.
To be clothed in a rustic woolen cloth, symbol of the torments suffered by Christ and his Blessed Mother, was an immense joy for Juliana. However, even greater was her realization of the need to lead an almost monastic life, even though she still continued to live at home.
Penance and fasting became a means of suffering for Christ and with Christ: on Wednesdays and Fridays, she only ate the Holy Eucharist; on Saturdays, although she consented to take a little bread and water, she punished her body with sackcloth, chains of iron, and other instruments used for this purpose, which were only found after her death.
Increasing her prayers more and more, she spent little time at home and much time in church, absorbed in contemplation, close to the image of the Virgin with her crucified Son.
Configuring herself to the spirit of St. Philip Benicio
After admitting Juliana to the order, St. Philip Benicio stayed in Florence for a while longer. The Saint was then able to personally verify the marvels of virtue that the Most High placed in that privileged soul, and Juliana saw in him the path that led her to God, making him her model and guide. Between the disciple and the master, a relationship full of admiration and mutual trust was created.
After Philip’s departure for Heaven, she set herself to imitate him with all the strength of her soul, following with commitment the advice she had received from him, kept as a treasure in her heart. The same fervour that had led her to ask for the habit, now impelled her to configure herself with the spirit and mentality of the Saint. In the soul of this man, she saw represented the whole ideal of the institution of the Servites.
She was soon joined by several other mantellate sisters who, making much progress in the spiritual life, wished to embrace a path of greater perfection. Some of them – Blessed Joan Soderini, Blessed Subilia Palmieri, Blessed Frances Cammilli, Blessed Agnesa and Angela Uguccioni, Blessed Rosa of Siena – would be raised to the honor of the altars. Even Juliana’s own mother was excited to follow in her footsteps.
Structuring a Servite Women’s Branch
In no way did Juliana disappoint her disciples. The haste to perform acts of love grew day by day in her soul, giving rise to new mortifications: she scourged herself often, gave herself to rest for a very short time, and slept on the hard floor.
When her mother gave up her soul to God, our saint decided – with the consent of the second successor of St. Philip Benicio, Andrew of the Borgo of the Holy Sepulchre – to live in a convent with her followers. A new kind of religious life began to be constituted by her hands, which would have its definitive approval as a congregation in the following century, with a bull from Pope Martin V. And in 1718, the Sacred Congregation of Rites, in the decree of authorization of the Office of Saint Julian, declared her the founder of this feminine branch.
Her sisters in vocation held her, in fact, as superior, both because she was one of the first to receive the habit and because of her virtues. She considered herself, however, the last among them all.
Although the nascent community did not lack ardor and zeal, it was necessary to prepare a rule that would help the religious to structure their lives according to the ideal of the foundation. Judging that the opportune moment had come to draft the new sisters’ rule, Juliana set to work, taking advice from her saintly uncle, Alexius Falconieri, who was still living.
Springtime love intensified by the observance of the rule
Once the rule came into effect, she herself began to observe it with the greatest exactness, governing the community with singular prudence. She knew that her dual role as foundress and superior in no way exempted her from this observance. On the contrary, it required of her an example of greater fidelity. Moved by such a powerful stimulus, the entire community became a model of uprightness of manners for the entire city of Florence.
Juliana’s springtime love was in no way diminished by the rule, but rather intensified by her compliance with it. It became frequent that from her lips came this exclamation: “no one can take my Crucified love from my heart! The fruit of this love was a lively hatred of sin. At the mere sound of this word, he felt an enormous horror; she once fell unconscious when told the story of an offense made against God.
And there was no lack of charitable works in her life: she spent a lot of time caring for the sick in hospitals and joyfully distributed her family’s many riches among the poor.
Love in response to love
An entire existence consumed in the haste to suffer in order to give proof of love could not remain without a response from God, and He reserved for the end of his earthly journey the greatest demonstration of divine love.
In the year 1341, Juliana was in a serious state of health. Her stomach, weakened by so many penances, no longer retained food. The doctors declared themselves powerless against the advance of her illness and announced that her departure from this world was near. Without interrupting her conversation with her Guardian Angel and her meditation on the sufferings of the Blessed Virgin, in whose honour she had taken the habit, Juliana kept her eyes fixed on the Crucified One. The hours that still remained seemed long to her, because of her enormous yearning to be definitively with Him.
Taking a little breath, she managed to say: “O my sweet Jesus,” and expired!
She could no longer receive the Holy Bread, which had been the main sustenance of her life and practically her only nourishment during those last days. Disconsolate, during the Anointing of the Sick, Juliana asked the priest to at least allow her to touch the Sacred Host. When this was not done, she tearfully begged him to allow her to come as close as possible to Him and place it on her chest.
Seeing the ardent charity with which this supplication was made, the minister of God decided to grant her this last grace. He stretched a veil over her virginal breast, and over it a corporal, and on it he placed the Consecrated Form. Taking a little breath, she managed to say: “O my sweet Jesus”. And she expired! To the amazement of all around her, the Sacred Host had disappeared.
The religious sisters, however, soon saw the marvelous phenomenon clarified. As they prepared the chaste body of their foundress for burial, they were filled with wonder at the mark of the Sacred Host imprinted on her breast: penetrating the tissue and even the flesh of Juliana, Jesus had entered her heart to satisfy the last aspirations of the one who had loved Him so much. In this way, He made it clear how much the fullness of divine love surpassed the haste to love Him that had inflamed the Saint’s heart throughout her life.
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Text adapted from the magazine Heralds of the Gospel, n. 174, June 2016. By Sr. Maria Teresa Ribeiro Matos, EP.
Compiled by Roberta MacEwan