Catherine dei Pazzi, the only daughter of a noble Florentine Couple, Camillo and Maria, was born on 2 April 1566. She felt an intense devotion to the Blessed Sacrament very early in her childhood. She received her First Holy Communion by age ten and began experiencing mystical ecstasies. Soon after her first ecstasy and intimately encountering her Beloved, she made a private vow of virginity to the Lord. At 16, she entered St Mary of the Angels, a strict Carmelite convent in Florence, and took the name of Mary Magdalen.
She was professed two years later, on Trinity Sunday, when her death seemed near. However, after the ceremony, she was found to have been miraculously cured, and she fell into a 2-hour ecstasy, which repeated itself on 40 consecutive mornings as soon as she had received Holy Communion. Months later, began her "dark night of the soul," when God allowed her to suffer diabolical physical attacks and temptations and to feel spiritually abandoned by him. However, her ardent prayers, the frequent renewal of her religious vows, severe self-discipline, and utter humility saw her safely through these five years of purification. Peace was finally restored to her, and her visions and ecstasies became more frequent and longer. She also received the sacred Stigmata.
It was during these ecstasies that she uttered those wonderful maxims of divine love and counsels of spiritual perfection which have come down to us in five large volumes. Mary Magdalen could read the thoughts of others and predict future events. During the last three years of her life, headaches and paralysis confined her to bed. St Mary Magdalen died at 41, having learned the value of suffering for God's love and the souls' salvation. Pope Clement IX canonized her on 28 April 1669. She is the Patron Saint of illnesses and temptations.
St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi, obtain for us the strength to faithfully uphold our calling and walk in the footsteps of Jesus amidst challenges and temptations.
Jonathan Fabian Ginunggil,
Most High Servant,
Jesus, Mary, Joseph Ministry of Love (Blessed and Saints and the Nine Choirs of Angels)
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