The Church of San Sepolcro, Pisa, has a well that is associated with a remarkable 12th century miracle.
Born in Calcinia (Pisa) around 1136, Ubaldesca Taccini would from a very early age reveal her great spirituality and charity. One day, while she was working in the fields, a stranger asked her for a piece of bread. Without hesitating, the girl ran home and filled her smock with food. From a distance, her father saw what she was doing and, when he caught up with her, forbade her to give their food to a stranger. Otherwise, what would they have to eat? For the first time in her life Ubaldesca found herself forced to lie, saying she merely had wild flowers in her smock. A miracle then took place: multicoloured petals fell from the smock, flying off in the breeze.
At 15 years of age, Ubaldesca would become a nun within the Hospital of the Knights of St John of Jerusalem (later the Knights of Malta) which had been built around the church of San Sepolcro in Pisa. Thereafter she would dedicate herself to helping pilgrims.
One day, whilst she was drawing water from the well, a group of pilgrims on their way to Rome asked her for something to drink. She raised the pail from the well, and to everyone’s amazement, the water had been transformed into wine….
Ubaldesca is the patron saint of Calcinia, her home town, and is venerated by the Order of Malta.
