Franca Visalta

Franca Visalta (1170–1218), also known as Franca of Piacenza, was a Cistercian abbess.

Saint Franca Visalta of Piacenza
Statue of Saint Franca in the Monastery of Arouca, Portugal
Virgin and Abbess
Born	25 April 1170 Piacenza, Italy
Died	25 April 1218 Pittoli, Italy
Venerated in	Catholic Church
Beatified	21 March 1273
Canonized	21 September 1273 by Pope Gregory X
Feast	24 or 25 April
Attributes	kneeling, crowned by Christ
Patronage	against nightmares and eye disorders and diseases

Born in Piacenza, Italy, she became a Benedictine nun in St Syrus Convent at the age of seven and became abbess at a young age. However, she was removed and isolated because of the severe austerities she imposed. Only one nun, Carentia, agreed with Franca's discipline and she moved to a Cistercian convent in Rapallo.

Franca then persuaded her parents to build a Cistercian house in Montelana where she and Carentia both entered. Franca became abbess and maintained the strict austerities on herself, even when her health was failing, and spent most nights praying for several hours in chapel. She later moved the Cistercian community to Pittoli, where she died in 1218. Franca was canonised by Pope Gregory X.

Bibliography

• Alban Butler (revised by Peter Doyle, ed. Paul Burns), Butler's Lives of the Saints: April new full edition (Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England: Burns and Oates 1999), p. 185.
• Acta Sanctorum Month of April Part 3, April 25, pp. 379–404..