Mafalda of Portugal

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Mafalda of Portugal; Azulejo at the Parish Church of Rio Tinto
Altar and reliquary of Blessed Mafalda in the Arouca monastery

Mafalda of Portugal (born around 1200 (according to other sources around 1184 ) in Portugal , † May 1, 1257 in Arouca ) was a Portuguese princess, queen of Castile and a nun . She is venerated as a blessed in the Catholic Church .

Live and act

As far as one can reconstruct the life of the blessed Mafalda, she was born as the daughter of King Sanchos I of Portugal, the sister of his successor, Alfonso II of Portugal and the equally beatified Infanta Sancha and Theresa. Around the year 1215 she married the underage Castilian King Henry I , with whom she could not marry due to his young age. The young king died in 1217 at the age of 13. Pope Innocent III. declared the marriage annulled in 1216 .

Mafalda returned to her native Portugal, where she henceforth devoted herself to reforming monasteries , and entered the local Cistercian monastery in Arouca , which she also underwent extensive reforms. The Cistercian convent of São Bento in Rio Tinto was also reformed by her. She also had several hospitals for the poor built. For this she was called "Santa Rainha Mafalda" (holy Queen Mafalda) by the people. Shortly before her death in 1255, she was still in correspondence with Pope Alexander IV .

Mafalda of Portugal died in Arouca Monastery in 1257 . She is buried in the monastery, where she lies in a reliquary from 1718. Blessed Mafalda is one of the so-called incorruptible saints .

beatification

Through Pope Pius VI. On June 27, 1793, the heroic degree of Mafalda's virtue, which was required for a beatification , among other things, was established. Her feast day in the Roman Catholic Church is May 2nd .

literature

  • Knaurs Kulturführer- Portugal, 1998, Weltbildverlag, ISBN 3-8289-0675-3
  • Vera Schaubner, Hanns-Michael Schindler: Image lexicon of the saints, blessed and namesake, Pattlochverlag, 1989, ISBN 3-629-00705-8
  • Lexicon of Names and Saints, Nikol-Verlag, 2002, ISBN 3-933203-63-5

Web links

Commons : Mafalda of Portugal  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Mafalda of Portugal
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Portuguese princess and queen of Castile
DATE OF BIRTH around 1200
PLACE OF BIRTH Portugal
DATE OF DEATH May 1, 1257
Place of death Arouca