Magdalen of Canossa

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Magdalene of Canossa was born to a Veronese family in 1774; her father died in 1779 and her mother abandoned her in 1781. In 1791 she spent time in a Carmelite cloister but decided this was not her vocation.

In 1808 she began charitable work in Verona, and in 1828 set up the Institute of the Daughters of Charity (not to be confused with the Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul); she died in 1835, was beatified on December 8 1941, and was canonized by Pope John Paul II on October 2 1988.

Her feast day is May 8.

Since her time, schools have been started in her name in many countries, often but not necessarily catering to the hearing-impaired; see the Canossian School in Singapore and St Mary's Canossian College in Hong Kong

Mother Bakhita from Sudan has also been named as a Canossian saint.

Homily prepared by the Vatican on the occasion of her canonization