Toscana of Verona

Having become a widow, Toscana distributed all her fortune to the poor and entered as a lay sister into the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem (the Hospitallers). She established herself in a cell near the Order's hospital in Verona, next to the Porta Vescovo and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. There, she cared for the sick, the poor, and the pilgrims of the medieval routes (Via Francigena, Via Burdigalense), while leading a life of austerity, fasting, and prayer.

Exhausted by her privations and service, Toscana died on July 14, 1343, or 1344. Out of humility, she asked to be buried directly in the ground in front of the hospital entrance so that she might be trodden underfoot. However, her tomb became a place of pilgrimage due to healings and wonders. Her remains were solemnly transferred to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on September 29 of the same year, an act of elevatio corporis equivalent to a local canonization.

The cult of Toscana spread rapidly. In 1716, Pope Clement XI officially approved her cult for the diocese of Verona. On July 4, 1987, Pope John Paul II officially confirmed her cult by granting the concession of the Mass and the Office for the Sovereign Order of Malta, ratifying her status as blessed.

Toscana embodies the dual charism of the Order of Malta: the defense of the faith and the service of the poor and the sick. The ancient church of the Holy Sepulchre in Verona, now the church of Santa Toscana, houses her marble tomb adorned with a triptych by Liberale da Verona. In Zevio, of which she is the patron saint, an oratory was erected in 1637 on her presumed birthplace, and a column is dedicated to her in the main square. She is invoked as the protector of the incurably ill.