Bienheureuse Alde
Tertiaire des Humiliés (+1309)
Alda ou Alida.
Sienne en Toscane fut la ville de toute sa vie. Elle y épousa le jeune Bindo Bellanti, comme elle, de la noblesse siennoise. Elle aima cet époux dont la bonté était aussi grande que la piété. Lorsqu'il mourut, elle n'avait que trente ans et se consacra dans le "tiers Ordre des humiliés", des humbles. Puis elle soigna les malades à l'hôpital de sa ville, jusqu'à sa mort.
SOURCE : https://nominis.cef.fr/
Bienheureuse Alde, la « Tertiaire des Humiliés »
Rachel Molinatti | 25 avril 2019
Fêtée le 26 avril, Alde de Sienne a vécu au XIVe siècle. Toute sa vie, elle n’a eu de cesse de s’occuper des plus fragiles.
Originaire de Sienne, en Toscane (Italie), on surnomme Alde la « Tertiaire des Humiliés ». Issue de la noblesse siennoise, elle épouse Bindo Bellanti, un jeune homme à la fois bon et pieux, qu’elle aime profondément. Devenue veuve à l’âge de 30 ans, elle se consacre au « tiers-ordre des Humiliés » et prend soin des plus fragiles. Jusqu’à sa mort, elle soigne les malades à l’hôpital et veille sur eux, véritable ange gardien.
« Les vrais trésors de l'Église ce sont les pauvres »
Comme un écho à la vie de bienheureuse Alde, le pape François a lancé en novembre 2016 : « Les vrais trésors de l’Église ce sont les pauvres ! ». L’omission ou l’indifférence sont les deux grands péchés face aux pauvres avait également expliqué le souverain pontife en célébrant la messe de la première journée mondiale des pauvres, en 2017. Vivre pour avoir sur Terre ou donner pour gagner le Ciel ? La vraie question est là. Prendre soin des pauvres est un devoir évangélique qui incombe à chaque chrétien. Aux yeux de Dieu, « ce qui compte n’est pas ce que l’on a mais ce que l’on donne ». Alors arrêtons de « chercher le superflu, mais le bien pour les autres et rien de précieux ne nous manquera », rappelle encore le pape François. « Tout ce qui est investi dans l’amour demeure, le reste s’évanouit ».
BIENHEUREUSE ALIDA DE SIENNE
Epoque : 1249-1309
Pays : Italie
Sainte Alde ou Alda ou Alida ou Aude
alda : noble.
Née en Italie, elle épousa très tôt un noble siennois, le jeune Bindo Bellanti, avec qui elle fonda un couple très pieux. Elle aima passionnément cet époux dont la bonté était aussi grande que la piété. Veuve à 30 ans, elle entra dans le Tiers Ordre des Humiliés et se consacra dès lors aux humbles, aux pauvres et aux malades dans un hôpital de Sienne, en Toscane, jusqu’à sa mort en 1309.
Blessed Alda of Siena
Also known as
- Aldobrandesca
- Aude
- Blanca
- Bruna
Profile
Married lay woman. Widow. Tertiary of the Holy Humility of Mary. She devoted her life to personal penance and charity to the poor, was given to religious ecstasies, and received visions. Greatly honoured in Siena, Italy.
Born
Saint Aldobrandesca
St. Aldobrandesca was a mystic in thirteenth-century Siena, Italy. She was a popular curiosity in the town because of her many visions, ecstasies, and miracles. Once, for example, a hospital maid came upon Aldobrandesca when she was in a trance. The saint appeared to be cataleptic—muscles rigid, unconscious, and without feeling. Aldobrandesca’s biographer says the woman screamed in fear, summoning everyone to see her whom she thought was dead. Some were amazed, others amused. They began to punch and pinch her, to prick her with pins and to burn her fingers with candle flames. When she returned to her senses and felt her entire body in excruciating pain, she simply said: “May God forgive you.”
That act of forgiveness tells us more about Aldobrandesca than all of her paranormal experiences. Visions and ecstasies may be evidence of a supernatural touch, but mercy expressed to others is a sure sign of divine love. We honor Aldobrandesca as a saint for her charity, not for her trances.
As a young woman Aldobrandesca had reluctantly acquiesced to the marriage her parents arranged, but she seems to have grown to love her husband. However, he died young, leaving her a childless widow. Aldobrandesca decided to remain celibate and dedicate herself to a life of prayer. She associated herself with the Humiliati, an order of penitents who served the poor and the sick.
Aldobrandesca’s biographer says she had to fight persistent sexual temptations. Erotic memories of relations with her husband bothered her, and she tried to fight them off by wearing a hair shirt. Aldobrandesca’s biographer assures us that it worked, but her ever more extreme bodily penances suggest that the temptation never faded. Gradually, Aldobrandesca simplified her life, giving away her money and belongings. In her old age she moved to a hospital, where she could care for the sick and the poor. Aldobrandesca also made good use of her spiritual gifts:
A certain boy who suffered great pains throughout his body was cured as soon as Aldobrandesca made the sign of the cross over him. No other remedy than the saint’s sign of the cross was needed for a girl whose face was so puffed up that one eye was entirely closed. Nor was any other remedy needed for a woman who was gravely ill with breast cancer. The doctor had recommended surgery to another woman with breast cancer, but Aldobrandesca reached the poor woman first. When the saint anointed the woman with blessed oil and made the sign of the cross over her, the tumor disappeared.
Aldobrandesca performed her charitable works daily right up to her death on April 26, 1310.
Beata Alda (Aldobrandesca) da Siena Vedova
Siena, 28 febbraio 1245 - Siena, 26 aprile 1309
Nacque a Siena il 28 febbraio 1245 dal nobile Pietro Francesco Ponzi e da Agnese Bulgarini. Alda, dopo una buona educazione, fu data in sposa al concittadino Bindo Bellanti, uomo «virtutibus ornatissimus», dal quale, però, non ebbe figli. Dopo la morte prematura del marito, Alda vestì l'abito del Terz'ordine degli Umiliati e si diede a vita penitente nella solitudine di una sua piccola proprietà. Passò gli ultimi anni nell'ospedale di Sant'Andrea, in seguito detto di Sant'Onofrio, dedicandosi al servizio dei poveri, degli infermi e dei pellegrini. Morì il 26 aprile 1309 e fu sepolta nella chiesa di San Tommaso in Siena, appartenente agli Umiliati. Il suo culto ebbe diffusione nell'Ordine degli Umiliati. (Avv.)
Etimologia: Alda = estremamente bella, dal celtico
Nacque il 28 febbraio 1245 dal nobile Pietro Francesco Ponzi e da Agnese Bulgarini, alla quale Dio aveva mostrato in sogno di aver scelto la nascitura per sé; dopo essere stata educata e istruita con ogni cura, fu data in sposa al concittadino Bindo Bellanti, uomo «virtutibus ornatissimus», dal quale, però, non ebbe figli. Dopo la morte prematura del marito, A. vestì l'abito del Terz'Ordine degli Umiliati e si diede, ancor più di prima, a far vita penitente nella solitudine di una sua piccola proprietà, dove operò miracoli ed ebbe estasi e visioni. Passò gli ultimi anni nell'ospedale di S. Andrea, che in seguito fu detto di S. Onofrio, dedicandosi tutta al servizio dei poveri, degli infermi e dei pellegrini.
Alda morì il 26 aprile 1309 e fu sepolta nella chiesa di S. Tommaso in Siena, appartenente agli Umiliati. Le sue ossa nel 1489 furono levate da terra e poste in una parete a lato di un altare, da dove nel 1583 furono trasferite.
Il suo culto, oltre che a Siena e in altre città, ebbe molta diffusione nell'Ordine degli Umiliati.
Autore: Pietro Burchi
Voir aussi : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dU2GbZvQXwA