OCTOBER 5. flora of beaulieu, melancholy spirit

experiment:

transform smuggled goods into flowers or coins.

Patron saint of the abandoned, of converts, single laywomen, and victims of betrayal

Lived 1309 to 1347

An "innocent, good girl who resisted her parents plans for her to marry," Flora took the veil as a child of thirteen. Flora had a reputation for being emotional and/or mad. She wept, displayed odd bodily movements, and responded to God in "wild rushings through the cloisters."

DEPRESSION / "THINK SISSY SPACEK IN CARRIE"
"Is it possible that a saint--someone who has tasted the wonder and richness of divine love far more deeply than the rest of us have--could be troubled by a melancholy, restless spirit? Most definitely."

Even though it was her calling, entering a convent / taking Christ as her spouse precipitated an "intense and prolonged period of depression" in Flora. By some accounts, her sisters made fun of her, and that spurred her feelings of woe. By others, it was her depression (aka "moody behavior and sad appearance") that "took [its] toll" on her fellow nuns. With help from a confessor, Flora "worked her way through the tunnel of depression," and was rewarded with stigmata, levitation, the gift of prophesy, and other mystical experiences. By one account, the purpose of the trials, difficulties, temptations, and ridicule she endured was to prepare her for these "special gifts." One blogger (whose gorgeous Saint Flora needlepoint is worth a lengthy gander) suggests that these gifts made the very nuns who ridiculed her envious. She urges her readers to "think Sissy Spacek in Carrie."

SPIRITUAL SISTERWIVES WITH ELIZABETH OF PORTUGAL, ROSE OF VITERBO, & NOTBURGA
She is called St. Flora because an abbess once caught her smuggling gifts for the poor. When she opened her cloak, the gifts had transformed into "purple red flowers." This reminds me, of course, of a slightly more senior bride of Our Lord, Elizabeth of Portugal, who was born on the same continent (600 miles away) just 38 years before Flora. Depending on the account, Elizabeth turned bread into roses, flowers into coins, or coins into flowers.  Pilfered food and wine became shavings and vinegar respectively when Notburga dropped her full apron. Notburga was 44 years older than Flora, and born a mere 457 miles away. Rose of Viterbo died 57 years before Flora was born, but her bread turned to flowers just 390 miles away.

OTHER MIRACLES

• On All Saints Day, she fell into an ecstasy, refusing nourishment for three weeks (until the feast of St. Cecelia).
• Once, while meditating on the holy spirit, she"was raised" four feet (or 120 cm) from the ground and hung there amid many onlookers. She appeared to be pierced with the arms of Christ's cross, causing blood to flow freely from her sides and her mouth. 
• She was a prophetess, meaning she was privy to matters (none mentioned in specific by anyone on the internet) she "could not naturally know."
• An angel once brought her a host from a church more than eight miles away.