La «mamma» di Guglielmo VIII Paleologo: Maddalena Panattieri da Trino, terziaria OP (1443-1503)

Abstract

After a brief excursus on the Italian «living saints» who acquired a reputation for sanctity between the second half of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and a clarification of the historiographical concept of «living saints», the essay presents the hitherto unexplored case of the Dominican tertiary Maddalena Panatieri da Trino (1443-1503). While living in a small town in Monferrato, a rich land located in the Piedmont region, Maddalena was reported to the Marquis Guglielmo viii Paleologo for having prophesied his victory in a tournament held in France. Later venerated by the prince, who considered her a mother, the life of the blessed Magdalene was composed by Girolamo da Milano op following the example of the hagiographic legend of Blessed Osanna of Mantua, after the passage of Monferrato to the Gonzaga dukedom in the thirties of the sixteenth century.