SPERANDEA, ST.

Benedictine nun; b. Gubbio, Umbria, central Italy, c. 1216; d. Cingoli in the Marches, Sept. 11, 1276. She has no connection with either the Abbot St. Sperandeus (also a native of Gubbio) or the Congregation of St. Santuccia. For 10 years she wandered through central Italy preaching penance. She was especially renowned for her charity, piety, rigorous mortifications, and strict observance of the ascetic life. She restored the Benedictine convent of St. Michael (later St. Sperandia) at Cingoli in 1265 and served as abbess. Very shortly after her death, she became patron saint of Cingoli. Her body, buried there, long remained incorrupt; her cult was approved by john xxii in 1325.

Feast: Sept. 11.

Bibliography: Acta Sanctorum (Paris 1863–) Sept. 3:890–913. a. mercati and a. pelzer, Dizionario ecclesiastico, 3v. (Turin 1954–58) 3:939. a. m. zimmermann, Kalendarium Benedictinum: Die Heiligen und Seligen des Benediktinerorderns und seiner Zwiege, 4. (Metten 1933–38) 3:42–45. g. malazampa, Vita di s. Sperandea, vergine, protettrice di Cingoli (Cingoli 1901). Bibliotheca hagiographica latina antiquae et mediae aetatis, 2 v. (Brussels 1898–1901; suppl. 1911) 2:1133. a. potthast, Bibliotheca historica medii aevi (2d ed. 1896; repr. Graz 1954) 2:1581. u. chevalier, Répertoire des sources historiques du moyen-âge. Biobibliographie, 2 v. (2d ed. Paris 1905–07) 2:4312. l. h. cottineau, Répertoire topobibliographique des abbayes et prieurés, 2 v. (Mâcon 1935–39) 1:784. g. spahr, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. j. hofer and k. rahner (Freiburg 1957–65) 9:960.

[f. d. lazenby]