St. Mary Frances of the Five Wounds of Jesus

  Posted on November 9, 2020  by admin  No comments

Born: 25 March 1715 at Naples, Italy 

Died: 6 October 1791 at Naples, Italy of natural causes• buried in the church of the Alcantarines, Saint Lucia del Monte, Naples, Italy near the tomb of Saint John Joseph of the Cross 

Canonized: 29 June 1867 by Pope Blessed Pius IX 

Feast day: October 6

Saint John Joseph of the Cross and Saint Francis de Geronimo both predicted Mary France’s sanctity even before she was born. Daughter of Francesco Gallo, a greedy and angry man, and Barbara Basinsin, a pious and patient woman who put up with her husband’s abuse of herself, and his ill-treatment of Mary Frances, who was often worked nearly to death. The girl made her first Communion at age 7, and went to Mass nearly every day of her life there after. When she was 16, her father tried to force her into marriage with a rich young man; she refused, and became a Franciscan tertiary on 8 September 1731. Stigmatist whose outward signs disappeared when she prayed. 

Suffered assorted bodily ills and severe penances given by her family, her sisters, even her confessors. She eventually became known as a counsellor to priests, sisters, and pious laymen. She spent her last 38 years as a recluse in the home of Father Giovanni Pessiri.