Bona of Pisa
{{short description|Italian Roman Catholic saint}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox saint
|honorific_prefix=Saint
|name= Bona of Pisa
|birth_date={{circa |1156}}
|death_date=c. 1207
|feast_day= 29 May
|venerated_in= Roman Catholic Church
|image= Santa Bona - Giovanni Lorenzetti.jpg
|imagesize=
|caption= Santa Bona, Giovanni Lorenzetti Fusari, 2003
|death_place= Pisa, Italy
|titles= Virgin
|beatified_date=
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|beatified_by=
|canonized_date=
|canonized_place=
|canonized_by=
|attributes=
|patronage=Travellers: specifically couriers, guides, pilgrims, flight attendants; Pisa
|major_shrine=
|suppressed_date=
|issues=
}}
Bona of Pisa (c. 1156–1207) was a member of the Third order of the Augustinian nuns who helped lead travellers on pilgrimages. In 1962, she was canonized a saint in the Catholic Church by Pope John XXIII. She is considered the patron saint of travellers,[https://www.archbalt.org/st-bona-of-pisa/?print=print "St. Bona of Pisa", Archdiocese of Baltimore] and specifically couriers, guides, pilgrims, flight attendants, and the city of Pisa.
Biography
A native of Pisa, she was born in the parish of San Martino in Guazzolongo. Her mother, Berta, was Corsican; her father, named Bernardo, was a Pisan merchant. When she was three years old, her father left and never returned, leaving his family in difficult straits.[http://www.katolsk.no/biografier/historisk/bpisa Odden, Per Einar. "Den hellige Bona av Pisa (~1156-1207)", Den katolske kirke, December 23, 2006]
By the age of ten, she had dedicated herself as an Augustinian tertiary. Four years later, she made the first of her many journeys, going to see her father who was a Crusader near Jerusalem. On her trip home with some of her traveling companions, she was captured by Muslim pirates on the Mediterranean Sea, wounded, and subsequently imprisoned.
File:Chiesa di San Martino - Santa Bona.jpg
She was later ransomed by some of her countrymen, and completed her trip home. Shortly thereafter, she set out on another pilgrimage, this time with a large number of pilgrims on the long and dangerous journey to Santiago de Compostela, where James the Greater is honored. Along the way, she helped with the difficulties, encouraged those sometimes discouraged, provided medical aid and invited all to prayer and penance. After this, she was made one of the official guides along this pilgrimage route by the Knights of Saint James. She successfully completed the trip nine times.[http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/90352 Salani, Massimo. "Santa Bona da Pisa Vergine", Santi e Beati, October 23, 2001] She also made pilgrimages to Rome and to the shrine of the Monte Sant'Angelo sul Gargano.
Despite being ill at the time, she attempted a tenth trip, but returned home to Pisa, dying shortly thereafter in the room she kept near the Church of San Martino, where her body has been preserved to the present day.
Legends
On one occasion, when she was seven, the figure on the crucifix at the Holy Sepulchre church held out his hand to her. Later, at another church, she saw a vision of Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and three saints, including James the Greater. She was frightened by the light around these figures, and ran away. James followed her, and led her back to the image of Jesus. Bona observed a very pronounced devotion to James for the rest of her life.[https://insidethevaticanpilgrimages.com/patronofpilgrims/ "The Patron Saint of Pilgrims", Inside the Vatican Magazine (Pilgrimages)]
Veneration
Roman Martyrology: "In Pisa, Saint Bona, virgin, who made frequent pilgrimages with devotion to the Holy Land, to Rome and to Compostela."
Her cult was local, limited to the diocese of Pisa. She is depicted as a nun with a cross or a pilgrim's staff. Her feast day is celebrated on 29 May. In 1962, Pope John XXIII named her the patron saint of Italian tour guides, guides and flight attendants.
She is also regarded as a patron saint of the city of Pisa.
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Commons category|Bona of Pisa}}
Sources
- Attwater, Donald and Catherine Rachel John. The Penguin Dictionary of Saints. 3rd edition. New York: Penguin Books, 1993. {{ISBN|0-14-051312-4}}.
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20080511202851/http://saints.sqpn.com/saintb5b.htm Saint Bona of Pisa] at Patron Saints Index
- [http://mariannedorman.homestead.com/SaintsMay.html Bona of Pisa at Saints - May]
{{Canonization}}
{{Subject bar |portal1= Biography |portal2= Catholicism |portal3= Italy}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bona Of Pisa}}
Category:Italian Roman Catholic saints
Category:12th-century Italian Roman Catholic religious sisters and nuns