They call her, do the publishers of her book, “one of the most extraordinary mystics in the history of Christianity.”

We speak here of Saint Veronica Giuliani.

And she certainly is embedded in history (1660-1727).

A poor Clare nun, Saint Veronica was a stigmatic who offered her endless mystical suffering (including those “wounds” of Christ) for others.

Although multiple Popes extolled her virtues and gifts, she is all but unknown outside of her native region and the Capuchin Order.

Until, that is, The Diary of St. Veronica Giuliani (subtitle: “Tell Everyone Love has been found!”).

A compendium, it speaks for itself, detailing Giuliani’s many mystical visions and insights. And sufferings.

For example: “I was in combat all night,” she wrote in 1697. “And I felt every pain strongly. I spent three hours in darkness and with obfuscation of the mind, in which I was unable to make an act of worship toward God.

“I had the agony of death with that ice and perspiration, and there was the sight of all those enormous sins.

“Oh, God! What pain! I said. ‘My Lord, I present myself to desire all the torments and pains upon me, as long as You are no longer offended by anyone.'”

That’s just a taste of Veronica’s devotion.

For our purposes here: not just her connection with the end of Jesus’s Life, but also His Childhood.

Did her own youth reflect some of the way the Lord Himself may have been as a youngster (at least in essence)?

For like Christ, Saint Veronica was precocious, with signs of great holiness as a small girl.

While most girls her age were playing with makeshift dollhouses, Veronica was making what she called “little altars,” where she tried to get her parents to join her in “playing with the saints”!

And where other children ran to their mothers, Veronica (birth name, Ursula) ran toward icons of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

One can only imagine the unknown youth of Jesus. How did He preoccupy Himself? What “games” did He “play” (if any)?

We know that, by the age of twelve, he was impressing doctors and churchmen with his knowledge and wisdom.

But what else? What before then, and after?

The things we will learn when we pass into eternity and into His Presence (God willing)!

Until then, we have saints like Veronica for insight and to emulate.

Did this saint of yesteryear leave a warning not only for her era but ours as well?

“In order to obey, I will now say something else,” she wrote at one point. “It seems to me that some time ago, I had a vision. I seemed to see the Lord with three spears in His Hand, and He had me understand that He wanted to punish Christianity for the many offenses and sins committed.

“Then He had me see weapons everywhere, and I seemed to see a great war.

“Everyone was killing everyone else.

“All of this greatly frightened me. I saw nothing but dead people, and I saw the air disturbed, and it gave off such a strong stench that it seemed to pollute everyone.

“In an instant, I seemed to see all the people in evident danger of losing their salvation. Almost everyone was cursing God, and I seemed to see them die out of necessity. At this point, I thought I understood that the three spears were:

“War, plague, and famine.”

Food for thought—and prayerful fasting (which can stop wars and even suspend the laws of nature).

[resources: The Diary of St. Veronica Giuliani]