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 October 31, 1696, in Italy; died September 14, 1755, in Italy; beatified June 18, 2016; memorial, September 14; woman religious; mystic.
The Story: Giulia was the tenth of twelve children born to a wealthy couple, and had a playful, frivolous
life until about eleven, when it is said she began to embrace the idea of living more simply and prayerfully. The tugs at her soul continued, and she and a sister entered a Carmelite monastery when Giulia was twenty. The next several years brought a series of challenges and moves to different monasteries. Then in April 1723 when she was still a novice, she heard a voice telling her, “Go to Foggia, because there I want a foundation to be made.” The woman known in religious life as Sister Maria Celeste saw Jesus wearing a red tunic and blue mantle, which would become the habit for the contemplative congregation. She received the support of Alphonsus Liguori in the foundation of the Redemptoristine Nuns on May 13, 1731. (He shortly thereafter founded a similar congregation for priests.)
Giulia is regarded as one of the most significant mystics of her era, based on her autobiography and other writings. Her views of note included a comparison of the gestation of human life to the gestation of spiritual life, with the nine “months” of the latter consisting of mutual charity, poverty, purity, obedience, humility, recollection, prayer, sacrifice, and love of the Cross.
Giulia’s Wisdom: “He is my Father and my Mother; he alone is my Being and my Life.”
What We Can Learn from Giulia: Her analogy of physical/spiritual gestation may resonate with many. Consider offering a novena of sorts by focusing your prayer life each day on one of the attributes.
To Learn More About Giulia: Visit the site for the congregation she founded.
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.
