11 Facts About Emilia Bicchieri

Emilia Bicchieri, OP was an Italian Catholic nun of the Dominican Order.

Emilia Bicchieri was born in 1238 in Vercelli as the fourth of seven girls to Pietro Bicchieri, a patrician of noble stock.

Emilia Bicchieri was baptized sometime in the month of her birth.

Emilia Bicchieri told this to a Dominican friar who told her that she would bear a daughter and that the dream was a clear sign that the unborn child would become a saint.

Emilia Bicchieri's father bowed to pressure and in 1255 decided to oversee the construction of an establishment that his daughter could found in her name and use for religious purposes.

Emilia Bicchieri's father died after the convent was constructed in 1255, which came as a tremendous blow to her for she was devoted to her father; she had dreaded informing him of her decision to become a nun.

The hopeful Emilia Bicchieri founded the convent of Santa Margherita in her hometown for regular Dominican tertiaries and in 1257 enrolled in the Dominicans before making her solemn profession and receiving the habit of the order; her convent would observe the rule of the Third Order of Saint Dominic.

Emilia Bicchieri appeared to the prioress and thanked her for her firmness.

Emilia Bicchieri was known to wear a hair shirt and often fasted as signs of penance.

Emilia Bicchieri died in 1314 and her remains were placed in a modest grave before being relocated to her convent in 1537.

Emilia Bicchieri's remains were moved one final time to Vercelli Cathedral in 1811.