Maria Crocifissa di Rosa
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Maria Crocifissa Di Rosa (1813-55) was the founder of the Servants of Charity in Brescia, Italy, in 1839. [1] She was both beatified and canonized by Pope Pius XII.
She was born as Paula Frances Mary di Rosa on November 6, 1813, in the city of Brescia, Italy. [2] First educated in a convent, she left school after the death of her mother when she was seventeen years old to take care of her father, who ran a saw mill with numerous employees. She helped the women and girls working there. During the cholera epidemic in 1836 she worked in the hospital in Brescia. She founded a school for th hearing impaired and crearted programs to assist women in poverty. [3] - Her dedication led to her nomination as mother superior. Her spirituality was grounded in the imitation of Christ’s suffering on the Cross. This was the basis of her teaching and contemplation. In her love of the crucified Christ,she translated her dedication to him towards the suffering members of his Mystical Body. [4] In 1840, at age 30, taking the name of Maria Crocifissa di Rosa, she founded a new religious congregation, the Handmaids of Charity, whose chief apostolate was the care of the poor, the sick and the suffering. [5] Papal approval was granted in 1850. Mary died at Brescia in 1855. Pope Pius XII beatified her and she was canonized by this Pope in 1954. [6]
[edit] Sources
- LE ANCELLE DELLA CARITÀ DI BRESCIA.: Per la Beatificazione della loro Madre Fondatrice Maria Crocifissa di-Rosa nel I° Centenario della Congregazione 1840-1940.
- FOSSATI, LUIGI.: Beata Maria Crocifissa Di-Rosa [Di Rosa] - Fondatrice delle Ancelle della Carità in Brescia 1940
