Camilla Battista da Varano OSCl, (9 April 1458 – 31 May 1524), from Camerino, Italy, was an Italian princess and a Poor Clare nun and abbess. She is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church.
Early life
Varano was born out of wedlock in Camerino, Macerata, in the Marche region of Italy, the daughter of noblewoman Cecchina di Maestro Giacomo and Giulio Cesare da Varano, the Duke of Camerino. She was raised by Giulio Cesare's wife, Giovanna Malatesta. Both her father and stepmother were very fond of her, and she grew up in the splendour of the court, receiving an education which included grammar and rhetoric.
When she was 10 years old Varano was so impressed with the preaching of Friars Domenico of Leonessa and Peter of Mogliano that every Friday she would who meditate on the passion of Christ. One day Verano came across a booklet that contained a meditation on the Passion of Christ divided into fifteen parts (to be recited like a Rosary) and she began to read it every Friday, while on her knees before a crucifix. She also then began other practices such as fasting on bread and water, keeping night vigils. At this time she continued to spend time playing music, singing, dancing, promenading, and other youthful pursuits abundant in court life.
From the ages of 18–21, she went through three years of deep spiritual struggles against the allurements of the world. Her father did all in his power to force his daughter into marriage, even to the extent of imprisoning her. During these two and half years, she reported having very deep conversions with Christ, and she received many divine visitations. She claimed that Jesus had given her 'three fragrant spring lilies': an intense hatred of the world, a heart-felt humility and a burning desire to endure evil. She composed her first written work in this time, a Lauda ("Praise"), which was about the joy she felt in knowing that Christ loved her. She claimed that she once saw Christ (in answer to her desire to see Him), but she saw only His back as He was walking away. She also experienced seven months of severe physical illness and depression.
Camilla resisted her father's plans so firmly that after two and a half years he restored her to liberty, for fear, as he said, of drawing upon himself divine vengeance, and gave his consent to her becoming a nun. During the Lent of 1479 Varano listened to a sermon of Observant Franciscan friar Francesco of Urbino, whom she described as "the trumpet of the Holy Spirit". This sermon struck her deeply. After another sermon by the same friar (with whom she secretly corresponded) on the feast of the Annunciation, 24 March 1479, she then took a vow of chastity; she was 21 at the time. At this same time, she also began to increasingly hear voices inside her telling her that her only hope of salvation was to become a nun.
Varano then had a bitter internal struggle, while dealing with sneers and gossip behind her back by members of the court, and her father initially opposed her wish to enter into consecrated life, wishing her to marry. After a confession of her sins to a certain Friar Oliviero on Saturday within the Octave of Easter, 17 April 1479, she decided that she would enter the Poor Clare monastery at Urbino, which was under the reform of the Strict Observance of the Order.
Monastic life
On 14 November 1481, Camilla entered the monastery of the Poor Clares at Urbino and took the name Baptista. She described the step in Biblical terms, as having been freed from the 'slavery of Egypt' (referring to the world), and from 'the hands of powerful Pharaoh' (referring to her father), that she had 'crossed the Red Sea' (left the court life), and was 'placed in the desert of holy religion' (entered a monastery).
Varano made her profession in 1483 and claimed it was a bittersweet moment for her, as there was much political and religious controversy about her decision to become a nun. It was during her stay at Urbino that she wrote Ricordi di Gesu, a meditation in the form of a letter from Jesus to her. She intensified her meditations on the Passion and claimed to enter more deeply into the mental pains of the heart of Jesus.
On 4 January 1484 Varano and eight other of her companions transferred to the new Monastery of Santa Maria Nuova at Camerino (located near her father's castle), in a monastery which her father had purchased from the Olivetan monks and restored in order to have his daughter closer to him. Her father had made arrangements with the Vicar General of the Observant Franciscans, under whose authority the Poor Clares operated, and the pope, in order to have her re-located there. Battista, however, was reluctant to do so and moved only under obedience.