Saint Who?
Saints Whose Bodies Resisted Corruption
Saint Mary Joseph Rossello
Foundress († 1880) Feast: December 7
“The hands should be at work, the heart with God.” Benedetta Rossello was the fourth of nine children. She joined the Franciscan Third Order in her mid-teens and longed for religious life, but all the convents she approached rejected her because of her poverty. And though the couple she worked for her wanted to make her their heir, they were not willing to provide the dowry that would take her away from them.
At 23, Benedetta discovered that her bishop was eager to establish a community of sisters to care for poor girls. With his support and counsel, she and several friends began the Daughters of Our Lady of Mercy. Sister Mary Joseph, as she was now known, became the community’s superior in 1840. She helped expand its work from teaching to running hospitals and promoting priestly vocations. She also helped to rescue African girls who were victims of the slave trade.
Sister Mary Joseph died in 1880. In 1917, her body was found to be incorrupt, and her heart was removed to provide a relic for her community. It still emitted blood. She was canonized in 1949. Her order has spread to five continents.
Compassionate Father, through the prayers of
Saint Mary Joseph Rossello, may poverty never deter us from doing your will.
