Hyacintha Mariscotti

Hyacintha Mariscotti, T.O.R., or Hyacintha of Mariscotti (Italian: Giacinta Marescotti), was an Italian religious sister of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis. She was born in 1585 of a noble family at Vignanello, in the Province of Viterbo, and died 30 January 1640 in Viterbo, noted for the depth of her spiritual gifts. She is honored as a saint in the Catholic Church.

Life

At baptism she received the name Clarice. Her parents were the Count Marcantonio Marescotti, who claimed descent from one Marius Scotus, a military leader under the Emperor Charlemagne, and Countess Ottavia Orsini, whose father had built the noted Gardens of Bomarzo.

At an early age she and her sisters, Ginevra and Ortensia, were sent to the Monastery of St. Bernardino to be educated by the community of the sisters of the Franciscan Third Order Regular. When their studies were complete, her older sister, Ginevra, chose to enter the monastic community as a sister, and received the religious name Immacolata. In her early youth, Clarice had been noted for her piety, but, as she grew older, she became frivolous, which not even an almost-miraculous saving of her life at the age of 17 could change, nor her education at the monastery.¹

At the age of 20 Clarice set her heart upon marriage with the Marchese Capizucchi, but was passed over by him in favor of her younger sister, Ortensia. Disappointed, she entered the monastery in Viterbo where she had been educated, receiving the religious name . She admitted later that she did this only to hide her chagrin and not to give up the luxuries of the world. She kept a private stock of extra food, wore a of the finest material, and received and paid visits at will.