In the church of the Corpus Domini and the adjacent monastery, the museum develops that documents the figure of Saint Catherine de Vigri (1413-1463), first lady-in-waiting to Margherita d’Este, then part of the Poor Clares of the Corpus Domini in Ferrara and finally abbess of the first monastery of the Poor Clares of Bologna, canonized in 1712.
To the left of the nave, the path opens with the chapel where the incorrupt body of the Saint is venerated, seated on a golden throne. Here are exhibited the ‘Madonna del Pomo’ and the ‘Baby Jesus’ painted by Catherine herself; the manuscripts of her works, ‘Breviary’ and ‘The Seven Spiritual Weapons’, numerous ex-votos and reliquaries. Among the relics of the saintly Clare, an amateur musician as well as a painter, is the famous “violeta”, a precious testimony of a 15th-century vielle.
In the adjoining room are kept small panels executed by Giulio Morina in 1594; the Saint’s bed, some chairs, a 15th-century wooden crucifix and an embroidered mantle donated by a noble Bolognese family.
