Note: For the next several weeks I’ll be featuring women saints who knew each other personally–mothers and daughters, grandmothers and granddaughters, sisters, and friends.
The Basics: Anna Maria Taigi, born May 29, 1769, in Italy; died June 9, 1837, in Italy; beatified May 20, 1920, by Benedict XV; feast day June 9. Wife, mother, mystic. Elizabeth Canori Mora, born November 21, 1774, in Italy; died February 5, 1825, in Italy; beatified April 24, 1994, by John Paul II; feast day February 5. Wife, mother.
The Story: They were a pair of young housewives and mothers, neither of them yet forty, in December 1808 when Anna
Maria formally became a lay member of the Order of the Most Holy Trinity, devoted to the Trinity and ministry to those in need. Elizabeth had become a Trinitarian the year before. The women were separated in age by only five years… and had much in common. Anna Maria’s husband, Domenico, had a bad temper, and they had little money with which to raise their four children. Elizabeth and her husband, Christopher, had had money, but it was nearly all spent on his mistress and gambling. Elizabeth had sold her wedding dress and worked as a seamstress to help support their two daughters.
They had something else in common: God had blessed them both with special communications. He had told Elizabeth to stay married to Christopher because He desired to save the man and their daughters through her. God gave Elizabeth other prophecies as well. (And he was proven right on Christopher, who repented and became a priest after Elizabeth’s death.) Anna Maria went into ecstasies frequently, including at the dinner table, and had visions of a sun-globe that became clearer as she became more purified. Her prophecies including world wars and three days and nights of total darkness on the earth were listened to and accepted by numerous priests, including some future popes and saints.
It was by all accounts a good friendship, the two women sharing their marital and parenting challenges… and the special
spiritual gifts they had received. It’s not imagining too much to believe that their support of each other in the sixteen years they were sisters in ministry helped sustain them and draw them closer to the Lord.
Their Wisdom: Anna Maria: “I embrace the cross of my Jesus.” Elizabeth: “No one can be saved all alone.”
What We Can Learn from Their Friendship: God places people in our paths to help us do His work. If you feel you’re not meeting them, consider volunteering for a parish ministry. You might be surprised to find out just how much you have in common with another parishioner… and how you both can help build up each other and the Body of Christ.
To Learn More About Them: Visit the Trinitarian site to learn more about the way religious and laypeople carry out the mission of glorifying the Trinity and helping those in need. (You’ll find biographies of Anna Maria and Elizabeth too.)
To Learn More About Other Women Saints and Blesseds: Come back next week, or consider buying my book, Sisterhood of Saints: Daily Guidance and Inspiration.
