Paola Gambara Costa (3 March 1463 - 24 January 1515) was an Italian Roman Catholic professed member of the Third Order of Saint Francis.

[1] She was born to nobles and married in 1475 to the nobleman Lodovico Antonio Costa - and had one child - who soon acquired a mistress and chastised her for her generous nature towards the poor and ill.

[3] Her beatification received formal confirmation from Pope Gregory XVI on 14 August 1845 after the latter ratified that there existed a spontaneous and enduring local 'cultus' - or longstanding and popular veneration.

Her following siblings included: In her childhood she delighted in spiritual reading and reflection on the Gospel and harbored an ardent desire to become a nun later in life.

[2] The marriage came about after Count Bongiovanni Costa visited her parents and was struck with her virtue and so wanted her as his nephew Lodovico Antonio's wife.

Her decision to be a nun concerned the count who sent her to Angelo Carletti - a Franciscan priest - who persuaded her that marriage was a call from God to embrace a different kind of life still in accordance with Christian values.

Carletti kept her on the path of virtue and advised her to enroll in the Third Order of Saint Francis while learning to appreciate the poor and to detest the lavishness of the secular world.