Saint of the day: Blessed Maria Adeodata Pisani

Maria Adeodata Pisani was a Maltese nun whom Pope John Paul II venerated April 24, 2001 (decree of heroic virtues) and beatified May 9, 2001.

The day after John Paul II signed and released the decree on both Pisani’s virtues and miracle, paving the path for her beatification on May 9, 2001, the bishops released a pastoral letter emphasizing the serious difficulties that she had to face, stating that Maria Pisani had had “a difficult childhood as her parents did not live together. She renounced and disposed of her wealth, willingly living as a cloistered nun.”

The only daughter of Baron Benedetto Pisani Mompalao Cuzkeri and Vincenza Carrano, Maria Adeodata Pisani, was born Maria Teresa Pisani in Naples, Italy, on December 29, 1806, and baptized the same day in the Parish of St Mark at Pizzofalcone. At the time, her father held the title of Baron of Frigenuin, one of the oldest and richest baronies in Malta; her mother was Italian.

Blessed Maria Pisani had a deformed shoulder, caused, it was testified, by injuries sustained at the hands of a maid who beat her when she lived with her grandmother in Naples. Although her mother tried to find her a suitable husband, Maria invariably declined such proposals, preferring to lead a quiet life, of attending church and helping the poor. The people who knew her started to comment about her pious behavior.

Upon turning 21, Maria entered the Benedictine Community in St. Peter’s Monastery, and took the name Maria Adeodata (“given by God”). She made her solemn profession two years later. In the cloister, she was a seamstress, sacristan, teacher, porter, and novice mistress. Maria’s charity was a benefit to her fellow nuns and to many people outside the cloister as well.

Maria Pisani wrote various works, the most well-known of which is “The mystical garden of the soul that loves Jesus and Mary”, a collection of her personal reflections between the years 1835 and 1843. She was abbess from 1851 to 1853, but had to retire from her duties due to the heart problems she suffered. Maria died on February 25.1855, aged 48, and was buried the next day in the crypt of the Benedictine monastery at Mdina, Malta.

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Blessed Maria Pisani was remembered for her sanctity, love of the poor, self-imposed sacrifices, and ecstasies so complete that she was reportedly seen levitating.

Maria’s cause was formally opened on April 29, 1898, granting her the title of Servant of God. Pope John Paul II declared her a Blessed on May 9, 2001, at Floriana, Malta, citing as the miracle required for her beatification, a November 24, 1897 incident in which the abbess Giuseppina Damiani from the Monastery of Saint John the Baptist Subiaco in Italy, was suddenly healed of a stomach tumour following her request for Maria Pisani’s intervention. The beatification was soon followed by the unveiling of a huge portrait of the Blessed — a replica of an original 1898 oil painting commissioned by Pietro Pace, the Archbishop of Rhodes and Bishop of Malta. The Pope also announced that her feast would be celebrated on February 25, the day of her death.