Maria Llorença Llong was born in
Lleida sometime in 1463 to nobles and she relocated to
Naples in 1506 alongside her husband Juan Llong (who enjoyed the favor of
Ferdinand II of Aragon) despite being paralyzed at the time. Her husband died in 1509 and left her with her three children at which point she went on a pilgrimage to
Loreto where she was cured of her paralysis in what she attributed to the intercession of the
Blessed Virgin Mary. Llong became a Franciscan and she founded both a house to care for prostitutes in 1526 and a hospital for ill people. Llong established the hospital of Santa Maria del Popolo in 1519. Llong wanted to go on a pilgrimage but she had a vision that revealed that she should establish a
convent dedicated to
Santa Maria in Gerusalemme (Our Lady in Jerusalem). Llong wanted to re-establish the original concepts of being simple and humble in addition to poorness of spirit and adherence to the austerities of Ss.
Francis of Assisi and
Clare of Assisi. This re-establishment followed the lead that
Matteo da Bascio had set when he founded the
Order of Friars Minor Capuchin. The new convent was established with the help of the Capuchin
friars, and the sisters became known as
Capuchin Poor Clares. The nuns wore a simple Capuchin tunic knotted with a cord, a short cape, the wimple and a black veil. During Llong's lifetime the first group of sisters was sent to the Italian mainland attracting funding from a range of philanthropists. Llong's idea to establish an order along the lines of Clare of Assisi was seen as a move to establish the fundamental principles that Clare established in 1212. In 1533, Llong chose
Gaetano dei Conti di Thiene CR as her
spiritual director. Llong sought to obtain papal approval for her convent and this led to
Pope Paul III issuing his approval in
Debitum Pastoralis Officii on 19 February 1535 and later for the official founding on 10 December 1538. The hospital also received numerous papal privileges from
Pope Leo X and
Pope Adrian VI while Gian Pietro Carafa, the future
Pope Paul IV, supported the founding and maintenance of the hospital. Llong died in
Naples on 21 December 1539. Her relics were exhumed in 1935. All that remained was a skull which was placed in a
reliquary in her convent. ==Beatification process==