January 30

Saint Hyacintha Mariscotti

Roman Martyrology

Turned from a comfortable convent life to serve Viterbo’s poor and sick

Hyacintha Mariscotti was born in 1585 into a noble family at Vignanello, near Viterbo in central Italy, and was baptised Clarice. When a younger sister married first, Clarice was sent, unwillingly, to a Franciscan convent in Viterbo. She took the name Hyacintha but kept her comforts. For about ten years she lived in well-furnished rooms and treated religious life as an arrangement, not a calling.

Around 1615, after a serious illness, things changed. According to the accounts of her life, a confessor was shocked by her richly furnished cell and told her plainly that she was wasting her vocation. She gave away her finery, wore the plainest habit and began a life of prayer and penance. From the convent she organised help for Viterbo’s poor, sick and elderly, and inspired lay groups who collected alms for them.

She died on 30 January 1640 and was canonised in 1807. Christians remember her as a sign that it is never too late to begin again.

For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you took Me in, I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you looked after Me, I was in prison and you visited Me.’

Matthew 25:35–36 · BSB

A prayer

Faithful God, you called Hyacintha out of a half-hearted life and turned her comfort into care for the poor and the sick. Wake us when we settle for less than your love, give us courage to begin again, and open our hands to those in need; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.