Lucia Burlini

In March 1734, at the age of 24, Lucia met Saint Paul of the Cross (Paolo della Croce), the founder of the Congregation of the Passion of Jesus Christ (the Passionists), during the first mission he preached in Cellere, a neighboring village. Deeply touched by the holiness and the qualities of the missionary as a spiritual director, she went to confession to him. Saint Paul of the Cross agreed to become her spiritual guide, a role he would fulfill for about forty years, until his death in 1775. Lucia chose not to marry and to dedicate herself entirely to God while remaining in the world as a consecrated laywoman. She led a life of intense prayer and manual labor at her loom. Not knowing how to write, she dictated her numerous letters intended for Saint Paul of the Cross to the priest Giovanni Antonio Lucattini, who was also from Piansano. These letters bear witness to a deep mystical life and her spiritual union with Christ. Lucia was very attached to the Passionist family. She actively supported the Passionist convent of the Madonna del Cerro, located between Piansano and Tuscania, by collecting food and alms for the religious. For fifteen years, it was in this convent that she met regularly with Saint Paul of the Cross. In 1748, she was graced with an apparition of the Virgin Mary. In May 1751 (or 1750 according to some sources), she had a famous vision known as the "doves of Calvary": she saw doves moaning near the Crucifix, a symbolic image that foreshadowed the foundation of the female branch of the congregation (the Passionist Nuns) and the establishment of their first monastery in Corneto (today Tarquinia). Saint Paul of the Cross greatly appreciated this biblical image and used it frequently to describe the vocation of the nuns.

In 1777, two years after the death of Saint Paul of the Cross, Lucia, then 67 years old, testified during the ordinary informative process for the canonization of her spiritual director in Corneto (Tarquinia). The last thirteen years of her life were marked by great physical suffering. She suffered from severe injuries and wounds on her legs and feet that left her almost completely paralyzed. She endured these trials with heroic patience, seeing them as a way to unite herself with the sufferings of the crucified Christ, in accordance with the advice that Saint Paul of the Cross had given her. A few months before her death, she was graced with a vision of her spiritual father who came to prepare her for her final encounter with God. Lucia Burlini passed away in the odor of sanctity on May 1, 1789, in her native village of Piansano. Her body rests in a monument dedicated to her within the parish church of San Bernardino da Siena in Piansano.

The cause for the beatification and canonization of Lucia Burlini was introduced to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. The Passionist father Bernardino Narciso Bordo (1921-2012), also a native of Piansano, dedicated a large part of his life to documentary research and to the drafting of the Positio on the heroic virtues of the Servant of God. On October 23, 1987, Pope John Paul II promulgated the decree recognizing the heroic nature of her virtues, thus conferring upon her the title of Venerable. The cause is currently awaiting the recognition of a miracle to pave the way for her beatification.

The spirituality of the Venerable Lucia Burlini is deeply rooted in the mystery of the Passion of Christ. Although a laywoman living in the simplicity of her daily work as a weaver, she was able to embody the Passionist charism in an exemplary manner. Her life shows that a high contemplative and mystical spirituality, centered on the Wisdom of the Cross, is fully accessible to laypeople living in the midst of the world. Her spiritual legacy is preserved through her correspondence with Saint Paul of the Cross, which constitutes a precious testimony on spiritual direction and the mysticism of the Passion in the 18th century. In Piansano, her memory remains very alive: a commemorative plaque marks her birthplace and her tomb in the church of San Bernardino da Siena remains a place of popular devotion.