 St. Mary Magdalene of Pazzi
Name: St. Mary Magdalene of Pazzi
Date: 29 May
Saint Mary Magdalene of Pazzi was the only daughter of the illustrious Camille de Pazzi,related to the Medicis of Florence. She was born in the year 1566, and was baptized withthe name of Catherine. As a child she loved to go into solitary places to enter into prayerwith God, who revealed Himself to her from her tender years without the aid of teachers,as her Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier. She made a crown of thorns one day, and woreit for an entire night, enduring great pain. She received her First Communion at ten yearsof age; at twelve years, she made a vow of virginity and took great pleasure in teachingChristian doctrine to poor children. Her father, not knowing of her vow, wished to give her in marriage, but she persuadedhim to allow her to become a religious, and chose the Carmelites, because there the nunsreceived Communion frequently. She entered in the year of the death of Saint Teresa ofAvila, 1582, at the age of sixteen. It had been more difficult to obtain her mother’sconsent; while she was a novice, her mother sent a portrait artist to the convent, withinstructions that her daughter be portrayed in lay clothing. The Sisters complied with herrequest, and the portrait can still be seen in the Convent. She became professed ateighteen years of age in the Carmelite monastery of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Florence,May 17, 1584, Feast of the Holy Trinity. She changed her name of Catherine to that ofMary Magdalene on becoming a nun, and took as her motto, “Either suffer or die.” Her life thereafter was one of penance for sins not her own, and of love for Our Lord,who tried her in ways fearful and strange. She was obedient, observant of the Rule,humble and mortified, and had great reverence for the religious life. One day, when sheseemed to be at the last hour of her life, she rose from her sickbed and hastenedeverywhere throughout the convent, saying during her ecstasy, “O Love! O Love! No oneknows You, no one knows You, no one loves You!” For five years she was tormented bydemons with fearful temptations of pride, sensuality, gluttony, despair, blasphemy; theybecame so violent that she said, “I do not know whether I am a reasonable creature or onewithout reason; I see nothing in myself but a little good will never to offend the divineMajesty.” God raised her to elevated states of prayer and gave her rare gifts, enabling her to read thethoughts of her novices, and filling her with wisdom to direct them. She was twicechosen mistress of novices, and then made Superior. On her deathbed she asked herSisters to love only Our Lord Jesus Christ, to place all hope in Him, and be perpetuallyardent with desire to suffer for love of Him. God took her to Himself on May 15, 1607. Her body remains incorrupt. |
