Maria Celeste [SEP] father
Maria Celeste
Sister Maria Celeste (16 August 1600– 2 April 1634), born Virginia Galilei, was a nun. She was the daughter of the Italian scientist Galileo Galilei and Marina Gamba.
Biography.
Virginia was the eldest of three siblings, with a sister Livia and a brother Vincenzio. All three were born out of wedlock, and the two daughters were considered unworthy for marriage. Troubled by monetary problems, Galileo placed them in the San Matteo convent shortly after Virginia's thirteenth birthday. When
she took the veil in 1616 Virginia chose her religious name, Maria Celeste, in honor of the Virgin Mary, and her father's love of astronomy.
From her cloister Maria Celeste was a source of support not only for her Poor Clares sisters, but also for her father. Maria Celeste served as San Matteo's apothecary (herself being of frail health). She sent her father herbal treatments for his various maladies while additionally seeing to the convent's finances and sometimes staging plays inside the convent's walls. There