Saint of the Month - June 2011: Saint Juliana Falconieri

St. Juliana Falconieri
Handmaid of the Holy Eucharist

Feast: June 19th

This month’s featured Saint is truly a Saint of the Eucharist… and will forever be identified as such because of a singular event that occurred at the end of her virtuous life. Juliana Falconieri was the daughter of noble parents from the Italian city of Florence. She was born in 1270 and was fortunate to have as a close relative – St. Alexis Falconieri – a paternal uncle, who was one of a group of seven exceptionally pious men, personally commissioned by the Blessed Virgin to found the Servants of Mary (a.k.a. the ‘Servite Order’).

Reports of Juliana’s early years indicate that she was drawn to spiritual matters and practiced self-mortification in imitation, and through the influence, of her saintly uncle. At 14, her parents unsuccessfully tried to arrange a political marriage for her but she firmly resisted since she had already made up her mind to enter into religious life. Undaunted, her father continued to pressure her about marrying but she remained resolute until she was relieved of any marital obligation by his untimely death in 1285.

Juliana then sought spiritual guidance from the Servites, and through the intervention of St. Phillip Benizi, she was given their Rule of Life and clothed as the founding member of the female branch of their Order. She resided with her mother, but practiced a strict regimen of prayer, penance, and charitable work that attracted other devout women to her holy manner of living. When her mother died in 1305, she and her followers established their own convent where she served as the superior for life.

Not surprisingly, Juliana’s spiritual life was filled with many extraordinary graces – Ecstasies, Visions, etc. - but the one miracle, which she is most remembered for occurred shortly before she died on June 12, 1341. During her final illness, the foundress was plagued with episodes of severe vomiting so she was denied Holy Communion despite her deep yearning to receive the body of Christ before her death. As a way of consoling her, the priest in attendance spread a corporal on Juliana’s chest and laid the Blessed Sacrament upon it for her to adore. The Saint went into a joyous rapture and peacefully expired shortly after.

As the attendants composed themselves, it was noticed that the Host which was lying over Juliana’s chest had gone missing, causing much concern over its whereabouts. A futile search turned up nothing and the small group was forced to give up, leaving them deeply disturbed and perplexed over the loss of the Blessed Sacrament. It was only when the nuns were preparing Juliana’s body for burial that the mystery of the missing Host was solved. For there, mysteriously branded on her skin directly over the heart, was an image of a crucifix enclosed in a circle; identical to the crucifix that was impressed on the missing Host. It was then understood that the Lord had satisfied the Saint’s dying wish and had miraculously united himself to her, while also leaving His crucified image on her flesh as confirmation.

Although the Florentines and the Servites revered her as a Saint during her lifetime, St. Juliana Falconieri’s Canonization did not take place until 1737. Her body, exhumed incorrupt, now rests in a shrine dedicated to her honor in the Basilica of the Annunciation in Florence, Italy; a fitting resting place for a holy woman who throughout her life, and with her blessed death, proclaimed the miraculous love of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist.

The incorrupt body of St. Juliana Falconieri,

enshrined in Florence, Italy
(a wax mask covers the Saint's face)  

A Reflection

“Unless you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life.”  ~ Words of Our Lord, John 6:53-54

A Short Prayer
Lord Jesus, through the intercession of St. Juliana Falconieri, grant us a firm faith and a deep love for the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar.  Amen.