Blessed Diana degli Andalò

Diana degli Andalò was born in Bologna in 1201, into a noble and very powerful family: her brother Brancaleone would become senator of Rome. All that is said of her is that she was beautiful, cheerful and intelligent. In March 1219 she helped Blessed Reginald of Orléans buy the land known as le Vigne, where the convent of San Nicolò stood and where the Basilica of San Domenico stands today. In August she joined the Dominicans, welcomed by Dominic de Guzmán in person. Her family opposed it and forced her to stay at home. In July 1221 she tried again, entering the Augustinian nuns of the hermitage of Ronzano: her relatives came to take her back by force, and in the abduction they broke one of her ribs. Dominic wrote her letters to comfort her, which have been lost. In the end her family gave in, and in 1223 the Dominican monastery of Sant’Agnese was born in Bologna, with Diana and four companions. Clare of Assisi has nothing to do with it, but the story closely resembles hers. What remains of her are fifty letters written to her by Blessed Jordan of Saxony, Dominic’s successor at the head of the order. They are a spiritual correspondence of rare delicacy, and for historians they are a precious document: they show how two people who cared deeply for each other wrote to one another in that century. She died in Bologna on June 10, 1236. If your name is Diana, today is your name day.