Pietrantoni, Agostina Livia, St.
PIETRANTONI, AGOSTINA LIVIA, ST.
Baptized Livia, nurse, a Sister of Charity of Saint Joan Antida Thouret (Istituto delle Suore della Carità di Santa Giovanna Antida Thouret ); b. March 27, 1864 in Pozzaglia Sabina (between Rieti and Tivoli), Italy; d. Nov. 13, 1894, Rome.
Livia, the second of the eleven children of farmers, received little formal education. Responding to a call, Livia entered the Sisters of Charity at Rome in 1886. Sister Agostina became a nurse in the pediatric ward at Holy Spirit Hospital near the Vatican, where she cared for the critically ill. Later she was transferred to the tuberculosis ward, where she contracted the deadly disease but was miraculously cured.
Following a month of threatening notes, a former patient, Giuseppe Romanelli, stabbed Sister Agostina to death while attempting to rape her. As she died, she prayed for Romanelli's salvation and forgiveness. Agostina was beatified in 1972 and the miracle required for her canonization approved, April 6, 1998. She was canonized by Pope John Paul II, April 18, 1999.
Bibliography: Acta Apostolicae Sedis 65 (1973): 229–235. L'Osservatore Romano, Eng. ed. 47 (1972): 1–2. a. pronzato, Una certa suor Agostina. Suora della carità di S. Giovanna Antida Thouret (Turin 1971).
[k. i. rabenstein]