THE PATRON SAINT OF CHILDREN RECEIVING THEIR FIRST COMMUNION:
Blessed Imelda Lambertini (1322-1333) felt a profound love for Jesus in the Eucharist from a very young age and longed to receive Him in Holy Communion.
Her parents took her to the Dominican convent in Bologna at the age of nine, where she remained until her death.
On May 10, 1333, the Feast of the Ascension, as the nuns were leaving, she stayed in the church, absorbed in prayer. One of the sisters witnessed a Sacred Host appear suspended in the air above the child.
Amazed, she ran to call the priest, who, taking the Host, placed it on a paten, understanding that the Lord, seeing the child's deep love, wished to come to her.
And so, Imelda received Holy Communion: at that very moment she entered an ecstasy from which she did not emerge alive. This was her First and last Communion, at the age of only 11.
Pope Saint Pius X proclaimed her patron saint of children making their First Communion.