Note: For the next few weeks, I’ll be featuring women who were beatified or canonized in the 20th or 21st centuries.
The Basics: Born May 1, 1856, in Italy; died January 20, 1906, in Italy; canonized May 17, 2015, by Francis; feast day, January 20; woman religious.
The Story: The woman born as Adelaide Brando knew from an early age she was meant for religious life. Finding the right place took some time, however. Her father was concerned about her desire to join a community devoted to perpetual adoration of the Eucharist, so she first entered a Poor Clares monastery. After a time back at home, she gained her father’s permission to become a Sacramentine and took vows when she was twenty, but left due to a chronic respiratory illness. Two years later, Maria Cristina founded a community–the Sisters, Expiatory Victims of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament–that both met her passion for adoration and her desire for help others by way of educating young people. As mother superior, she lived in the cell closest to the church tabernacle so she could be near Christ in the form of the Eucharist.
Maria Christina’s Wisdom: “Love of God and of neighbor are two branches that are connected to the same trunk.”
What We Can Learn from Maria Christina: Serving God doesn’t have to be an either/or. How can you join your desire to serve community and your worship practice?
To Learn More About Maria Christina: Take a look at the Villa Maria Christina Brando in Rome, lodging managed by the Sacramentine Sisters. In addition to photos of rooms, you’ll learn much about the sisters’ work that continues today.
To Learn More About Other Women Saints and Blesseds: Come back next week, or consider buying my books, Blessed Are You: Finding Inspiration from Our Sisters in Faith or Sisterhood of Saints: Daily Guidance and Inspiration.
