Saint Who?
Saints Who Founded Communities
Saint Maria de Mattias
Religious († 1866)Feast: February 4
Maria de Mattias was born in 1805 in Vallecorsa, Italy, then part of the Papal States. It was a time of political upheaval, and society was so unstable that many men became robbers. Maria’s family was wealthy, so the energetic little girl was not allowed much freedom for fear she would be kidnapped for ransom. She was too much for her mother to handle, so her patient father spent time teaching her the faith and the Scriptures.
Still, as a teen, Maria, lonely and self-absorbed, began to slip into spiritual darkness. After invoking Our Lady’s help and seeking counsel from her father, Maria received a mystical insight into the fullness of love revealed in the crucified Lord. This infinite personal love, she realized, was the true source of change for her beleaguered society.
Then Gaspar del Bufalo (see “Saint Who?” of February 21) preached a mission which electrified the city. Within a few years, Maria, guided by a priest of Gaspar’s congregation, founded the female branch: the Congregation of the Sisters Adorers of the Blood of Christ. She established seventy houses of sisters. Maria was sought after by everyone, high and low, all eager to learn from the woman who spoke about divine realities as though she had seen them. She died in Rome in 1866.
Crucified Savior, through the prayers of Saint Maria de Mattias, may each person come to know the infinite and personal love you bear them.
