Anna Colonna was an Italian noblewoman of the Colonna and Barberini families.
13 Facts About Anna Colonna
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Anna Colonna having spent about four years in the convent resigning herself to not marrying and devoting herself to a pious life, left the convent the same year to prepare for her marriage.
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Anna Colonna showed great care for her children, even sleeping by their beds in a makeshift cot when they were ill.
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Anna Colonna was very devout and saw things like the death of one of her children's nurse-maids as a divine punishment.
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Anna Colonna distributed diamonds and other prizes to winning tournament entrants.
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Anna Colonna would remain very religious throughout her life and donated regularly to religious charities.
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Anna Colonna had as a spiritual advisor the Oratorian priest Giovanni Tomaso Eustachio In 1638, Anna Colonna requested the relics of the Oratorian founder Philip Neri and commissioned the sculptor Alessandro Algardi to design gold and silver reliquaries to house them.
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The caretakers of Neris remains hid it, but since Anna Colonna was the wife of the Pope's nephew her demand was acceded to, and she was given one of Neris ribs.
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Anna Colonna commissioned paintings such as a depiction of Sant'Alessio from Pietro da Cortona titled "The Death of Saint Alexius".
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Anna Colonna who had remained in Rome in order to protect the possessions of the family made a passionate appeal to the Pope, urging him not to strip the Barberini of their assets.
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Anna Colonna joined her husband and children in Paris in 1646, but upon arrival Anna Colonna discovered that her only surviving daughter, Lucrezia had been placed in a convent.
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Now restored to favor, Anna Colonna wanted to arrange her daughter Lucrezia's marriage, a matter which she expected to have a say in, but was told by her brother-in-law Cardinal Antonio Barberini that she would have no say in whom her daughter married.
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Anna Colonna died in 1658 and was buried at the grounds of the convent.