Abundantia

Abundantia (Abundantia of Spoleto) was, by tradition, an Italian virgin, born in 783 or in 789 (with a question mark) at Spoleto in Umbria, and reposed on 19 January 804. She is venerated in the Western Church as a saint and is one of the patrons of the diocese of Spoleto. Her life is legendary and uncertain.

It is told that she was raised by Maiolus, fourth abbot of Cluny, and went with him on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land; it has also been said that she spent five years in the cave of Saint Onuphrius, in the desert of Upper Egypt. She is said to have fostered devotion to the Archangel Raphael, who is supposed to have been her guardian angel. From childhood she is said to have worked miracles: at her baptism the candles lit by themselves and the bells began to ring by themselves; at eight she is said to have received the Child Jesus and been given nine golden apples. When she died, in the middle of winter, flowers are said to have bloomed around her as all the bells rang.

Scholars note that the legends are not historically verified; Maiolus lived much later, so the account is anachronistic. On the place where her tomb is said to be there had been a necropolis with the tomb of Gregory of Spoleto and a church of the 6th century; in the 12th century the cathedral of San Gregorio Maggiore was built, and in 1854 the coffin with her supposed bones was moved to its crypt.