Saint Who?
Saints Who Worked with Their Hands
Blessed Anna Maria Taigi
Married laywoman († 1837) Feast: June 9
Anna Maria was a full-time wife, mother, and homemaker. Throughout her life, she performed the same menial tasks as any 19th-century Italian grandmother. But somehow, amid the dirty dishes and diapers, she managed to become a great mystic.
Anna Maria had to leave school at the age of thirteen to work as a servant in a nobleman’s house in Rome. That’s where she met Dominic, who was also a servant. They married and had seven children. Although she was a busy mother and they lived on the income of a butler, Anna Maria initially spent much of her time dressing in the latest fashions and attending popular entertainments. Some sources say she fell (or almost fell) into adultery.
Profoundly repentant, she turned to a priest, who helped her learn how to live a virtuous, modest life. But Anna Maria’s conversion went far deeper than mere repentance. She became a humble, patient wife to her impatient husband, a teacher of the faith to her many children and grandchildren, and a comforter to the poor. Her own spiritual life was marked by trials, temptations, and mortifications, but her spiritual depth was so well known that cardinals and popes sought her advice. One of those who gave witness at her canonization proceedings was her husband.
Almighty God, when we have sinned,
give us the grace to repent and begin anew.
