(1150 - 1224) Image Source Today is the feast of St. Christina the Astonishing, who is also known as Christina Mirabilis. Born to a peasant family and orphaned as a child, she was raised by two older sisters. At age 21, she experienced a severe seizure and may have had epilepsy. It was so severe as to be cataleptic, and she was thought to have died. During her funeral Mass, she suddenly recovered, and levitated to the roof of the church. Ordered down by the priest, she landed on the altar and stated that she had been to hell, purgatory, and heaven, and had been returned to earth with a ministry to pray for the souls in purgatory. Her life from that point became a series of strange incidents cataloged by a Thomas de Cantimpré, Dominican professor of theology at Louvain who was a contemporary recorded his information by interviewing witnesses, and by Cardinal Jacques de Vitny who knew her personally. She exhibited both unusual traits and abilities. For example, she could not stand the o...
