Christina the Astonishing
Belgian Christian mystic born in Brustem
Christina the Astonishing (c. 1150 – c. 1224), also known as Christina Mirabilis, was a Christian holy woman born in Brustem (near Sint-Truiden), Belgium. Christina is primarily known for her legendary resurrection during her funeral mass, and numerous other miracles attributed to her during her life. Thomas of Cantimpré wrote a hagiography of her based on accounts from people who knew her, which made her known outside of Sint-Truiden.
Life
Christina was born to a religious family, the youngest of three daughters. After being orphaned at the age of fifteen, she worked taking the herds to pasture. She suffered a massive seizure when she was in her early twenties. Her condition was so severe that witnesses assumed she had died. A funeral was held, but during the service, "she arose full of vigor, stupefying with amazement the whole city of Sint-Truiden, which had witnessed this wonder. She levitated up to the rafters, later explaining that she could not bear the smell of the sinful people there."She related that she had witnessed Heaven, Hell and Purgatory. She said that as soon as her soul was separated from her body, angels conducted it to a very gloomy place, entirely filled with souls enduring such torments that it was impossible to describe them.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q449932. VIAF identifies the subject as 268386742. The Library of Congress control number is n85049237. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1150 and 1224.
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This entry incorporates text from “Christina the Astonishing” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.