Rosana Battista, burning with the love of Christ

Born in Grottaglie (Taranto) into a family of writers and poets, Rosana Battista refused many suitors and instead chose to consecrate herself to God by joining the Poor Clares of her village at the age of 17. Probably because she was orphaned at an early age, she developed a deep and fervent devotion to Mary, the mother of God. She had a deep spiritual life and had mystical experiences such as ecstasies and levitations during prayer. At the time (17th century), southern Italy was in the grip of political and, to some extent, religious unrest. The monastery of St. Clare was in unfortunately in the crosshairs, and became the target of an attack on July 25, 1647. While the rest of the community sought refuge in the church near the altar, Sister Rosana Battista, then abbess of the monastery, as St. Clare had already done with the Saracens who wanted to plunder St. Damian's, came to the window of the monastery with a crucifix in her hand, and using kind words, the young 37-year-old woman, as the chronicles tell us, succeeded in calming the tempers of the furious mob: the result was miraculous, and Grottaglie was exempt from further massacres and looting. At her death on July 25, 1663, she was considered a saint by the local population.

Unsplash/Dolina Modlitwy

Reasons to believe:

Rosana, who became abbess of her monastery after holding various leadership roles, was the very opposite of a dreamer or fanatic person.

Rosana's stigmatisation (a wound on her side) is largely documented and has been the subject of medical, psychological and theological investigations.

Her levitations were witnessed by many people, all of whom were above suspicion, including some very sceptical people, and at various times during her life.

Rosana's most famous miracle is a public one: the calming of a violent and murderous crowd and obtaining an impossible peace, a most courageous deed witnessed by several hundred people.

The ecclesiastical authorities always supported, helped and protected Rosana, despite the reluctance and extreme caution displayed toward mystical phenomena in the 17th century.

Rosana's body remained incorrupt and flexible for years after her death.

Summary:

Rosana was born in Grottaglie, in the region of Otranto, Apulia, of southern Italy, on June 2, 1610, to Francesco Battista and Elisabetta Bonifacio. She was baptised the following day. Her family belonged to the educated class of the population. One of her cousins was Giuseppe Battista, one of the most famous Neapolitan writers of the 17th century. Christened Rosa ("rose", after the Virgin Mary), the little girl was intelligent and curious, and enjoyed taking part in the conversations of the adults. Above all, she was a patient listener and never intervened without reason.

Her parents gave her the most complete education available for a girl of that period. She received lessons in the Italian and Latin languages, arithmetic, poetry, grammar, music and singing. At fifteen, her natural beauty and social skills attracted a number of suitors. But for several months Rosana had been secretly attracted to a very different life plan. Enthralled by the lives of Saint Francis of Assisi and Saint Clare, she decided to embrace the same religious life in her own province to serve Jesus alone, her only love. Her determination was such that the protests and successive attempts of her parents and friends to change her mind met a strong resistance and failed. What those around her couldn't see was that Rosana wasn't following a human whim, but a true vocation.

In 1626, she knocked on the door of the monastery of St Clare in her home town of Grottaglie. The girl was already known to some of the nuns and came recommended by her friends. She was immediately welcome by the community and made a good impression. Her superiors soon realized that Rosana's had an extraordinary faith. She was admitted in record time and adapted wonderfully to the community and the duties of the contemplative life. On December 3, 1628, she took her first vows. The ceremony was magnificent: her family and friends all came for the occasion.

Gradually, a new period in her life began. Recognising her organisational skills (management, administration, etc.), her sisters quickly placed their absolute trust in her. In the eyes of all, she was a model nun, so great were her virtues of obedience and humility. At the same time, God blessed her with extraordinary gifts, which she initially tried to conceal as best she could, asking the few nuns who knew about them to keep quiet. But their mystical experiences quickly became known in the community, due to their recurrence and incredible appearance: ecstasies (identical to those of Saint Teresa of Ávila, for example), prophecies, the ability to perform miracles, etc.

Some phenomena deeply moved eyewitnesses, for example her experience of hyperthermia, also known in mysticism as a "fire of love",(Cf. the lives of Catherine of Genoa, Philip Neri, etc.): without any medical cause, Rosana's body temperature rose abnormally for a variable period of time, from a few minutes to a whole day. Curiously, this rise always occurred very quickly: a sort of sudden burst of metabolic activity that could lead to temperatures much higher than those observed in the most serious cases: up to 50°C! The phenomenon is always triggered by a spiritual event: a state of deep prayer, ecstasy, a vision, etc. At times, feeling that she was literally " boiling ", Rosana had to plunge her hands into icy water, which began to boil on contact.

Another phenomenon made Rosana famous, despite herself. In the late 1630s, when she thought about God's love, or after receiving communion, she felt that her heart beat too fast and violently. This was audible because some of the nuns told her that her heart sounded like a "little drum"! One day, Rosana became frightened when she noticed that the ribs in her chest had lifted and that a wound had formed on the side. Stranger still, the wound took on the shape and appearance of a rose, exuding a sweet perfume, but from which no blood flowed. The nuns wanted to send for a doctor, but Rosana tells them it's useless, that the wound would soon close by itself, without leaving the slightest scar, because it had a supernatural origin, and this is exactly what happened. The same stigma reappeared several times without ever causing Rosana the slightest harm.

Among the above listed phenomena, Rosana's levitations were attested and duly verified. They took place following a repeated pattern: during an ecstasy, at Mass, in her cell or refectory, even in the convent kitchen, Rosana was lifted off the ground for a few seconds, sometimes a few minutes. The servant of God would only "come down" out of religious obedience: when someone (usually a nun, superior or priest) ordered her to come back to her senses.

Finally, Rosana had mystical visions of unprecedented precision and power. The Lord appeared to her as the Child Jesus, the Sacred Heart or the "Christ of the Passion", and often was conversing with Christ. Jesus would help her to recite an office, assisted her in the kitchen to bring a fire under control, etc.

One day, while the sisters were meditating on the virtue of obedience, Christ appeared to Rosana at her side, looking exhausted, sweaty, and out of breath. His heart was like a golden blaze. She asked him timidly: "Why are you so tired? Why are you sweating?" - "I work for the monastery," he replied. This vision was followed by a second scene: at his side stood the wounded Christ, whose ruby-like wounds projected a reddish light. Rosana felt her heart "liquefy" and her face "ignite"; this sudden change in appearance was noted by those present. Then "gold" flowed from the wound in Jesus' side and penetrated Rosana's heart, causing her to feel "mortal pain".

In 1647, as a result of an unjust tax policy, riots broke out in the region of Naples. The revolt reached Grottaglie, where the economic slump was worrying the nobility and clergy. At dawn on July 25, 1647, the town's inhabitants took to the streets. Sparked by a dispute between craftsmen and the servant of a prominent citizen, the protest turned into a massacre. Several nobles were killed, and the survivors took refuge in the parish church. Some were massacred, others dragged through the streets and killed.

The nuns, whose monastery was nearby, heard the screams and gunfire. Taking refuge in their convent church, they prayed for the horrors to stop. But nothing happened. They started fearing for their own life. Would they be the next target of this blind rage? With the permission of the other sisters, Rosana decided to intervene to restore peace and order. She grabbed a crucifix and, praying, went to meet the face the mob. Pignatelli, a nobleman from the Neapolitan region, described the scene: " [Rosana,] with a crucifix in her hand, suddenly showed herself to the agitated people, persuaded them of the merits of concord, restored order to the brains of the anarchy, exhorted everyone to peace and calm, and everything, as if by magic, returned to order." Only a saint could achieve such a feat, and Sister Rosana did. Several men dropped their weapons on the ground, and the crowd turned around, returning to their homes or leaving the city. All danger had left. This miracle of sudden pacification was witnessed by three to four hundred people.

Elected abbess, Rosana practised rare humility. She was seen washing kitchen utensils, sweeping the kitchen and refectory, and welcoming people knocking on the monastery door, any time of the day and night.

After her death, her body was placed in a chest and deposited in the community cemetery. An exhumation took place at the end of the 1670s, when her body was found incorrupt and completely flexible. The monastery archives contain a detailed and signed account of this event.

Patrick Sbalchiero