Maria Lorenza Longo

Upon returning to Naples, Maria Lorenza Longo first dedicated herself to the sick at the hospital of San Nicola al Molo. In 1519, encouraged by the Genoese notary Ettore Vernazza (founder of the Company of Divine Love), she undertook the foundation of a new healthcare establishment. On March 23, 1522, the Hospital of Santa Maria del Popolo of the Incurables (Ospedale di Santa Maria del Popolo degli Incurabili) was inaugurated in Naples. This hospital, which still operates today, was intended to treat the most destitute patients, particularly those suffering from syphilis (then described as an incurable disease). She brought together doctors and laypeople to provide both physical and spiritual care. Concerned for the fate of prostitutes, she also founded the nearby monastery of the Repentant (monastero delle Pentite) to welcome and reintegrate women wishing to change their lives. In 1533, she chose Gaetano Thiene (Saint Cajetan, co-founder of the Theatines) as her spiritual director. Under his guidance, she felt the call to the contemplative life and decided to leave the management of the hospital to found a new community. In 1535, Pope Paul III authorized the creation of a monastery under the Rule of Saint Clare. In 1536, the Sovereign Pontiff granted that the number of nuns be fixed at thirty-three, in memory of the years of Jesus' earthly life, hence the traditional name of "Monastery of the Thirty-Three" (Monastero delle Trentatré) or Santa Maria di Gerusalemme. On December 10, 1538, by the bull Cum monasterium, Pope Paul III confirmed the erection of the community as the Second Order of Saint Francis (the Capuchin Poor Clares), and placed it, according to the founder's wish, under the spiritual direction of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin (who had arrived in Naples in 1529). Maria Lorenza Longo and her companions pronounced their solemn vows there. She assumed the office of abbess until her declining health forced her to renounce it shortly before her death, which occurred on December 21, 1539, in Naples.

The reputation for holiness of Maria Lorenza Longo has remained alive throughout the centuries, both within the Order of Capuchin Poor Clares and among the Neapolitan people. The ordinary informative process for her beatification opened in Naples on November 9, 1880, and concluded on March 20, 1883. After the examination of her writings and the formal introduction of her cause in 1892, the apostolic process took place from 1893 to 1903. On October 9, 2017, Pope Francis authorized the promulgation of the decree recognizing the heroic nature of her virtues, thus conferring upon her the title of Venerable.

The path to beatification opened thanks to the recognition of a miracle that occurred on October 15, 1881, at the Monastery of the Thirty-Three in Naples. It concerns the sudden and scientifically inexplicable healing of Sister Maria Cherubina Pirro, a Capuchin Poor Clare suffering from chronic pleuropulmonary tuberculosis with phthisiogenic progression and extrapulmonary localization. While the patient was in agony, the abbess of the monastery applied the relic of the skull of the foundress, Maria Lorenza Longo, to her body. The sister immediately felt an intense heat and was permanently healed, living for another twelve years before passing away from another cause. The file for this miracle, found in the archives of the Curia of Naples in March 2005, was the subject of a canonical investigation validated in 2008. On October 27, 2020, Pope Francis officially approved the decree recognizing this miracle. The beatification ceremony for Maria Lorenza Longo was celebrated on October 9, 2021, in the Cathedral of Naples by Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, representing Pope Francis.

The spirituality of Blessed Maria Lorenza Longo is characterized by an intimate union between contemplation and charitable action, embodying both the evangelical figures of Martha and Mary. Her deep faith was manifested through an ardent love for the Eucharist, a marked devotion to the Passion of Christ, a great respect for the Church and the priesthood, as well as unwavering dedication to the poorest and most excluded in society. Her legacy remains alive through two major institutions: the Hospital of the Incurables in Naples, which has endured through the centuries as a center of medicine and Christian charity, and the Order of the Capuchin Poor Clares (or Capuchins of Naples), which today counts numerous monasteries throughout the world (notably in Italy, Spain, and the United States), where the nuns continue to live according to the strict poverty and enclosure desired by their founder.