Blessed
Maria Giuseppina di Gesù Crocifisso
Biography
Giuseppina Catanea (Blessed Mary Josephine of Jesus Crucified) was born in Naples on February 18, 1896. After commercial studies, in 1918 she entered the monastery of Sts Teresa and Joseph of the Discalced Carmelite nuns, built on the hill of the Ponti Rossi, where her sister Antonietta had already entered.
Of delicate health, in 1912 she was struck by tuberculosis, paresis and spinal meningism, but ten years later she recovered, by touching a relic of St. Francis Xavier. It was the beginning of an apostolate that the «holy nun», as she was called, carried out throughout her life, welcoming sick people and people in search of spiritual comfort to the monastery.
Her self-denial continued uninterruptedly even when, at the age of fifty, she was confined to a wheelchair. In September 1945, she was elected prioress, holding that office until her death on March 14, 1948.
She was beatified in the Cathedral of Naples on June 1st, 2008, during the pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI.
Procedure
1. The canonical norms concerning the procedure to be followed in the Causes of Saints are stated in the Apostolic Constitution Divinus Perfectionis Magister promulgated by John Paul II on 25 January 1983 (AAS LXXV, 1983, 349-355).
2. To initiate a Cause it is necessary that at least five years pass after the death of the candidate. This is to allow for greater balance and objectivity in the evaluation of the case and to allow the emotions of the moment to decant. There must be a clear conviction among people about his/her sanctity (fama sanctitas) and about the efficacy of his/her intercession with the Lord (fama signorum).
Iconography
