Saint Bona of Pisa

Santa Bona, Giovanni Lorenzetti Fusari, 2003

The 29th of May was the feast day of Saint Bona of Pisa. She is the patron saint of travellers, specifically couriers, guides, pilgrims, flight attendants; and Pisa.

Saint Bona lived between 1156 and 1207. She was born in Pisa, Italy and experienced visions at a young age. This led her to live a life of penance and fasting. At the age of 10 she dedicated her life to God and became an Augustinian tertiary. When she was 14 she left for her first pilgrimage to Jerusalem, where her father was fighting at the crusades at the time. She was captured and wounded by Muslim pirates and imprisoned on her way home and was later rescued by her fellow countrymen. She went ahead to make many pilgrimages and visited the Holy Land many times. She also made the Way of Saint James leading a large pilgrimage group. She had a great devotion to Saint James and had visions of him when she was a child. The Knights of Saint James named her as an official guide. She made the Way of Saint James a total of nine times, but on her tenth trip she had to return home early due to an illness and died soon after.