BEATRICE D'ESTE, BL.

Name of two members of the D'Este family.

Beatrice d'Este I, Benedictine nun; b. c. 1191; d. Gemolo, Italy, May 10, 1226. Daughter of Azzo VI d'Este and Princess Leonara of Savoy, she entered the convent of St. Margaret at Solarola when she was 14 years old, but because of local political disturbances she and the women companions who had joined her at St. Margaret's moved to the deserted monastery of St. John the Baptist near Gemolo. They adopted the Benedictine Rule and gained a reputation for their holiness. Her body was translated to the church of St. Sophia in Padua (1578). Her cult was approved in 1763.

Feast: May 10.

Beatrice d'Este II, Benedictine nun, niece of Bl. Beatrice I; b. 1230; d. Jan. 18, 1262. The daughter of Azzo VII d'Este and Joan of Apulia, she emulated her aunt, but her family planned her marriage to Galeazzo Manfredi, Duke of Vicenza and Veradino. When he died of wounds shortly before the projected marriage, she entered the convent at St. Lazarus. The D'Este family built a convent for her group at Ferrara that was called first St. Stephen, then St. Anthony's. She was professed in 1254 and died less than 10 years later. Clement XIV approved her cult in 1774.

Feast: Jan. 18; Feb. 28 (Benedictines).

Bibliography: Acta Sanctorum May 2:597–602; Jan. 2:759. p. balan, Memorie della vita della b. Beatrice d'Este (Venice 1878). g. baruffaldi, Vita della b. B. seconda d'E. (New ed. Ferrara 1777). a. m. zimmermann, Kalendarium Benedictinum: Die Heiligen und Seligen des Benediktinerorderns und seiner Zweige (Metten 1933–38) 2:166–169; 1:263–265.

[c. l. hohl, jr.]