Diana degli Andalò

Diana degli Andalò, OP (1201 – 10 June 1236), sometimes d'Andalo, was a Dominican nun who founded a convent in Italy dedicated to Saint Agnes.

Biography Diana d'Andalò was born into a powerful Roman family in Bologna, Italy in 1201. She is described as having been "rather spoiled". She was "of outstanding beauty", charming, eloquent, well-educated, high spirited, courageous, and had good judgment.

She persuaded her father to purchase the lands to build a convent, but he refused to allow her to enter it, probably because the family intended that she marry into another prominent family, and the bishop denied permission to build on the site chosen. In 1222, she ran away to an Augustinian convent in Ronzano. Her family forcibly retrieved her and brought her back home; one of her ribs was broken, an almost fatal injury from which she never fully recovered. Dominic died shortly afterwards, but after she recovered from her injuries, she again escaped to Ronzano in 1223; her family did not come after her a second time.

Shortly after Dominic's death, his successor Jordan of Saxony met Diana when he came to Bologna. With his assistance, Diana reconciled with her family, her father agreed to allow her to enter religious life, and the bishop agreed to another site for the convent. In 1223, the Convent of St. Agnes in Bologna was established, and Diana entered the Dominican order. Diana remained at St. Agnes until her death in 1236, and was buried there, along with the remains of Cecilia and Amata.

Veneration Diana was equivalently beatified in 1888, and together with Cecilia Cesarini and Amata was more formally recognized by Pope Leo XIII in 1891. They are "evidence of the deep friendship shared by Diana and Jordan and demonstrate the possibility of warm affection"