Saint of the Day: St. Magdalene of Canossa

Religious Sister and Founder (1774-1835)

Her life

+ Magdalene was born in Verona, Italy, and was the daughter of the Marquis of Canossa. As a young woman, she spent 10 months in a Carmelite monastery, hoping to discern her vocation, but she came to recognize that she was not called to the contemplative life.

+ Seeing the plight of the poor people in her town—which were only worsened by the upheaval caused by the Napoleonic Wars—she resolved to do all she could to alleviate their suffering.

+ Using her inheritance to help subsidize her charitable work, she was later given an abandoned convent, where she welcomed two poor girls from a local slum. She worked to care for them and provide an adequate education. A short time later, she was joined by other women, forming what would be come a new religious family: The Canossian Daughters of Charity.

+ The community began to establish houses and schools for the poor in other cities and received papal approbation in 1828.

+ Hoping to extend her community’s care to poor boys, she established the Canossian Sons of Charity in 1831. Magdalene also supported the work of two other founders of religious communities: Blessed Antonio Rosmini (the Institute of Charity—The Rosminians) and Blessed Maria Elisabetta Renzi (the Sisters of Our Lady of Sorrows).

+ Saint Magdalene of Canossa died in Verona on April 10, 1835, and was canonized 1988.

For Prayer and Reflection

“I desire that God may set your heart on fire with his love.”—Saint Magdalene of Canossa

Prayer

O God, who raised up blessed Magdalene in your Church to show others the way of salvation, grant us, by her example, so to follow Christ the master, that we may come with our neighbor into your presence. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.

(from The Roman Missal: Common of Holy Men and Women—For an Educator)
Saint profiles prepared by Brother Silas Henderson, S.D.S.