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<p>4to. (8), 68 pp. Modern quarter calf. First edition of the first biography of Villana Botti. At the age of 13 she ran away from home to join a convent, but was refused entry. Her spirit crushed, she descended into a lazy and lavish lifestyle, and was married off at the age of 19. One day she experienced a sudden spiritual conversion after catching sight of herself reflected as a demon in a mirror. She turned to the Dominican Order and adopted their practices, including collecting alms door-to-door, a source of embarrassment for her well-to-do husband. She also began to experience religious ecstasies while taking the Mass, to the skepticism of many observers. Although never professed as a nun, she died at the age of 28 dressed in the Dominican habit, and enjoyed a strong local following from the time of her death in the 14th C, prompting the author (evidently a descendant) to call her 'Beata' long before her formal beatification
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<br>Subjects:</div>
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Botti, Paolo</div>
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