St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi
Image: Catholic Online
(CNA) Born in Italy Florence, the future ‘Mary Magdalene’ was given the name of Caterina at the time of her baptism, she came of noble, prominent parents and was their only daughter.
Caterina was drawn to the Holy Eucharist from a young age and made her first Communion at the age of 10 and shortly thereafter vowed her virginity to God. At the age of 14, Caterina was sent to school at the ‘Convent of Cavalaresse’ where she lived in such a disciplined and fervent manner as to make the Sister’s prophesy that one day she would become a great Saint.
In December 1582 Caterina entered the ‘Carmelite Convent of Santa Maria Degl’ where Holy Communion was administered daily (unusual for the time period) which was the chief reason for her choosing this convent.
The following year, Caterina received her religious habit and took the name Mary Magdalene, being then so ill that they feared she would not recover, she was professed.
Sister Mary’s recovery marked the start of an extended mystical experience which lasted 40 days and involved extraordinary experiences that were taken down by her Sister’s in a set of manuscripts. — Sister Mary served the monastery in a series of teaching and supervisory positions, while also contributing to her community through manual labor, her fellow Camelites respected Sister Mary’s strict sense of discipline which was accompanied by profound charity and practical wisdom, her experiences of suffering and temptation helped her to guide and inspire others.
Extraordinary spiritual occurrences were a frequent feature of Sister Mary, to a much greater degree than is typical in the tradition of Catholic mysticism–while she often disliked the attention and would seemingly have preferred for these events to remain private.
Sister Mary did wish however to call attention to God’s love, which she saw as tragically under appreciated and unreciprocated by mankind. –Sister Mary is remembered for making dramatic gestures, running through the halls of her monastery or ringing the bells at night, while proclaiming the urgent need for all people to awaken to God’s love and respond in kind.
In 1607 when Sister Mary Magdalene was just 41 yrs of age, she passed away from an excruciating illness, borne with heroic joy to the end.
Innumerable miracles followed Sister Mary’s death and the process for her Beatification was begun in 1610 under Pope Paul V and finished under Pope Urban VIII in 1626 — Sister Mary Magdalene was Canonized by Pope Clement IX in 1669
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