St. Mary Crucified di Rosa

Biography

St. Mary Crucified di Rosa (1813–1855) was born Paola di Rosa on November 6, 1813, in Brescia, in northern Italy, the daughter of a wealthy industrialist, Clemente di Rosa, and Countess Camilla Albani. Her mother died when she was eleven, and she left school to help manage the household. She declined the marriage her father arranged, wishing to give herself to God. At her family's textile mill at Acquafredda she looked after the spiritual and material needs of the young women workers. When cholera struck Brescia in 1836, she went to serve the sick in the city hospital, and she later cared for young women in need, including deaf women. In 1840 she gathered a group of companions to nurse the sick with complete dedication, founding what became the Handmaids of Charity. The bishop of Brescia approved the community in 1843. During the upheavals of 1848–1849, the sisters nursed wounded soldiers on both sides in Brescia's military hospitals, and she is remembered for courageously protecting the wounded. Pope Pius IX approved the congregation in 1850, and in 1852 she made her profession, taking the name Maria Crocifissa, 'Mary of the Crucified.' Worn out by her labors, she died in Brescia on December 15, 1855. Pope Pius XII beatified her in 1940 and canonized her on June 12, 1954.

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