Virginia Centurione Bracelli was born in Genoa on April 2, 1587. Her parents were Lelia Spinola and Giorgio Centurione, who served as the Republic's duke in 1621–1622. They were both descended from old, noble families. Two days after her birth, she was baptized, and her mother and a private tutor provided her with her initial religious and literary education.
She soon felt the desire for a cloistered life, but she had to give in to her father's strong determination and marry Gaspare Grimaldi Bracelli at the age of 15 on December 10, 1602. Gaspare came from a wealthy and distinguished family, but he lived a dissolute life and was completely consumed by gambling. They had two daughters, Lelia and Isabella. Unfortunately, after barely five years of marriage, her husband passed away, leaving her a widow at the age of twenty. She refused her father's proposal for a second marriage, vowing to remain chaste forever. She dedicated her life to prayer and charitable deeds while living at her mother-in-law's home, where she also handled her children's schooling and other needs.
Her unique calling to "serve God through the poor" became evident to her around 1610. Virginia started dedicating her life to helping the less fortunate, despite her father's severe supervision and her constant need to provide for the family. She gave half of her fortune to the underprivileged or used charitable organizations to directly assist them.
After settling her daughters' marriages, Virginia fully committed herself to meeting the needs of the sick, elderly, and abandoned children as well as to improving the lives of marginalized people.
In the autumn of 1624-1625, the war between the Liguorian Republic and the Duke of Savoy, supported by France, increased unemployment and starvation, prompting Virginia to house the first 15 abandoned young people, and then, as the number of refugees in town grew, she was able to meet all of their needs, particularly those of the poor women.
Following the death of her mother-in-law in August of 1625, she began to not only take in the young but also ventured into the town, primarily to the less respectable parts, to seek out the poor and at-risk of depravity.
In response to the growing poverty, she established a refuge center in Genoa in 1625, which quickly filled up with the impoverished. In 1631, she rented an abandoned convent, where she provided medical care for the sick with the assistance of other women and taught the ladies about the religion in addition to their jobs.
After she built a church honoring Our Lady of Refuge, the women who worked for her in the hospital were organized into two groups: the Daughters of Our Lady on Mount Calvary and the Sisters of Our Lady of Refuge in Mount Calvary.
Virginia quickly left her position as the orders' administrator to work as a manual labourer and solicit alms; however, she was quickly called back to her administrative position.
In the last years of her life, she started to experience visions, locutions and other mystical gifts. At the age of 64, she passed away in Genoa on December 15, 1651. She was beatified on September 22, 1985, and on May 18, 2003, she was canonized; both by Pope John Paul II. Her feast day is celebrated on December 15.
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