St. Maria Mazzarello
Posted on May 14, 2020 by admin No comments
Born: May 9, 1837 Mornese, Alessandria, Italy
Died: May 14, 1881 in Nizza Monferrato, Asti Italy of natural causes
Beatified: November 20, 1938, Saint Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City by Pope Pius XI
Canonized: June 24, 1951, St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City by Pope Pius XII
Major shrine: Basilica of Our Lady Help of Christians, Turin, Italy
Feast: May 13
Saint Maria Mazzarello (May 9, 1837 – May 14, 1881) was the Italian founder of the Salesian Sisters.
Life
She was born in Mornese, in what is now the province of Alessandria, northern Italy, to a peasant family who worked in a vineyard. She was the eldest of ten children of Joseph and Maddalena Calcagno Mazzarelli. When she was fifteen she joined the Association of the Daughters of Mary Immaculate, run by her parish priest, Father Domenico Pestarino; it was a precursor to the founding of the Salesian Sisters.
The Daughters were known for their charitable works and Mary soon set herself apart for her sound judgment, dedication, joy, and love of the young. Wherever she went the village children were drawn to her like a magnet, eager to hear her stories, or to ask her a multitude of questions about the Christian faith.
When she was 23 years old, a typhoid epidemic hit Mornese and villagers started rapidly dying. Soon, her uncle and aunt were taken ill and Mary volunteered to care for them and their many children. After a week they were healed, but when she returned home Mary became ill with typhoid herself. She received the last rites of the Church and recovered, but the illness left her weak. The strength which had formerly sustained her in the fields was no more. Mary was now thin and frail; a shell of her formerly robust self.
Her practicality led her to find other means to sustain herself, so she took an apprenticeship as a seamstress in the town and worked diligently at the craft. Like John Bosco, the skills which she learned in her youth she was later able to pass onto those who would come after her. After she recovered from her illness, in the month of October, Mary was walking in her village and was suddenly astounded to see before her a large building with a courtyard and many girls playing and laughing. A voice said to her, “I entrust them to you.”
At the same time St John Bosco had a similar experience where he was shown a group of girls abandoned in a courtyard. The same voice said to him, “These are my daughters; take care of them.” Mary was to become the co-founder of a religious order to care for young girls, just as the Salesian priest and brothers cared for young boys.
The education of girls was a particular need in nineteenth century, and Mary decided to devote herself this work. Hosts of farm girls from the country, or serving girls, factory workers, and street vending girls filled the streets of the city; and all of them were at risk to juvenile prostitution. She wished to educate them, and teach them a trade, to save them from the dangers of street life. She persuaded some of her girl friends to join her in this project. Fifteen young women now comprised the Daughters of Mary Immaculate. Fr Pestarino busied himself with training them in the spiritual life and managed to secure a place for some of them to live in community, thus was the beginning of religious life in Mornese. The Daughters took in a few young girls and housed them, schooling them in the faith and handing down to them their knowledge of dress making.
Don Bosco was told of the Daughters by Fr Pestarino, who himself was training as a Salesian of Don Bosco under the saint. Considering his vision of the young girls, Don Bosco decided to meet with them. He went to Mornese with his boy band under the guise of raising funds for his Oratory, but his true intention was to investigate the possibility of founding a female counterpart of the Salesian Sisters from the Daughters of Mary Immaculate.
Death
Once in St. Cyr she fainted and was in bed for forty days the diagnosis was pleurisy. Eventually she returned to Italy, even though the doctor told her not to. She said that she wanted to die in her own community. She made her return journey in stages, as she did not want to push herself too much; she was painfully aware of her delicate condition. Fortunately on one of her stops Don Bosco was near and they were able to meet for the last time.
In early April, Mary returned to Mornese. Her native air strengthened her and since she felt stronger she insisted on keeping the community schedule and doing her usual work. Unfortunately it was too much for her and she relapsed. Near the end of April it seemed that death was approaching. Finally, in the pre-dawn hours of May 14, 1881, Mother Mazzarello began her death agony. After receiving the last rites she turned her attention to those around her and weakly whispered, “Good-bye. I am going now. I will see you in heaven.” Shortly after she died at the age of forty-four.
She was beatified on November 20, 1938 and canonized on June 24, 1951. Her incorrupt body is venerated in the Basilica of Our Lady Help of Christians, in Turin, Italy.
Prayer of St. Mary Mazzarello
Lord, I did not know that I could make up my mind to become a saint.
Yet why not? It is not that I can become a saint by my own power, because it is only through Your grace that sanctity comes. But if I make up my mind to become a saint, then I must have made up my mind to always do YOUR WILL.
You will that everyone become a saint. So Your Will would be sanctity for me. You know the way to bring me to holiness in my life. Help me to walk with You, wherever You go, to bring me to that holiness. Amen.