Nun (1445–1497)
Blessed Veronica was born to devout peasants in a village near Milan. From an early age she wished to become a nun, though this would require that she learn to read and write. For many nights, she stayed up struggling to teach herself. Finally she was relieved by a vision of the Mother of God who reassured her that it was enough to know three letters: “The first, purity of the affections, by setting her whole heart on God; the second, never to murmur or grow impatient at the sins or misbehavior of others, but to bear them with patience, and humbly to pray for them; the third, to set apart some time every day to meditate on the passion of Christ” (Alban Butler). The rest of her life was an effort to embody this spiritual counsel.
Eventually, at the age of twenty-two, Veronica was admitted to the convent of St. Martha, of the Order of St. Augustine, in Milan. Her chief occupation, when not in prayer, was to beg food for the convent. For several years she suffered terrible pain, but she never complained or asked for any mitigation of her duties or her ascetical practices. She was particularly renowned for her “gift of tears”: when in a state
of ecstasy, she wept so much that she seemed to be kneeling in a pool of water.
She died on January 13, 1497, at the age of fifty-two. She was beatified in 1517.
“I must work while I can, while I have time.”
—Blessed Veronica of Binasco
