Blessed Maria Crocifissa Curcio
![[Blessed Maria Crocifissa Curcio]](saintmab.jpg "??kb jpg detail of the beatification portrait of Blessed Maria Crocifissa Curcio; swiped off the Vatican web site; please do not write to ask about the image")
- Also known as
- Rosa Curcio
- Memorial
- 4 July
- Profile
- Seventh of ten children born to Salvatore Curcio and Concetta Franzò.
During much of her life she was diabetic, and suffered from health problems related to it.
A clever and out-going girl, she had only six years of school, but educated herself by reading widely in her family library.
She was deeply affected by reading the Life of Saint Teresa of Jesus, which she found at a time when she was feeling drawn to religious life.
In 1890, at age thirteen and against some family objection, she joined the Carmelite Tertiaries in Ispica.
She and several other tertiaries moved in together to see if they were ready for community life.
Rosa transferred to Modica and managed the Carmela Polara which helped poor and orphaned girls.
She travelled to Rome on 17 May 1925 for the canonization of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus.
Soon after she moved to Santa Marinella, diocese of Porto Santa Rufina, Italy on 3 July 1925 to work with the many poor of the area.
There she founded the Congregation of the Carmelite Missionary Sisters of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus which received official recognition in 1930; its goal was "to bring souls to God" by feeding the poor, educating children and supporting families.
They spread out across Italy, and in 1947 she sent missionary sisters to Brazil; the Congregation continues its good work today.
Her whole adult life Rosa felt a call to the missions, but due to her health problems she was forced to stay put, be a loving mother to her sisters, and send them into the world.
- Born
- 30 January 1877 in Ispica, diocese of Noto, Sicily
- Died
- 4 July 1957 in Santa Marinella, diocese of Porto Santa Rufina, Italy of natural causes
- Venerated
- 20 December 2002 by Pope John Paul II
- Beatified
- 13 November 2005 by Pope Benedict XVI;
recognition celebrated by Cardinal Saraiva Martins at Saint Peter's Basilica, Rome, Italy
- Canonized
- pending;
if you have information relevant to the canonization of Blessed Maria, contact:
Suore Carmelitane Missionarie di Santa Teresa del Bambino Gesù
Via del Carmelo, 3
00058 Santa Marinella (RM), ITALY
- Additional Information
- Vatican
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