Maria Repetto

Within her congregation, whose primary mission is the service of the poor and the sick, Maria Repetto asked to be assigned to the most humble and hidden tasks of the house. She worked first as a seamstress and embroiderer, carefully crafting liturgical vestments and sacred linens for poor churches. She also served as a laundress and nurse. However, as her eyesight declined rapidly, her superiors entrusted her with the role of portress of the convent. It was in this position of trust that she would shine for decades. Having become the welcoming face of the community to the outside world, she received the poor, the afflicted, the sick, and those in search of spiritual counsel. Her tireless charity and constant joy earned her the nickname from the inhabitants of Genoa of "la monaca santa" (the holy nun). Although she had chosen a cloistered life, she did not hesitate to cross the convent walls on two occasions, in 1835 and 1854, to volunteer at the bedside of the sick during the severe cholera epidemics that struck the city of Genoa, demonstrating heroic courage. In 1868, when the community had to move from Bisagno to Marassi to allow for the construction of the Genoa-Brignole railway station, she continued her humble service as portress in the new residence.

Maria Repetto's daily life was nourished by intense prayer and deep Eucharistic devotion. It was not rare for her sisters to discover her in the early morning kneeling before the tabernacle, having spent the entire night in adoration. She also nurtured an extraordinary filial trust in Saint Joseph. She distributed small images and medals of the saint (locally called "giuseppini") to all those who came knocking at the convent door in distress, inviting them to seek his intercession. Numerous testimonies report conversions and physical healings obtained through her prayers and the invocation of Saint Joseph. A famous popular account tells that a woman came to implore the healing of her husband who had become blind; Maria turned the image of Saint Joseph in her cell, telling him in a friendly way to experience darkness. The next day, the man having recovered his sight, she placed the image back in its proper position with a simple "Thank you, Saint Joseph." Weakened by age, she retired to the infirmary at the end of her life. She passed away peacefully in Genoa on January 5, 1890, at the age of 82, murmuring the first words of the Marian antiphon for Easter: "Regina Coeli Laetare, alleluia."

The reputation of holiness of Maria Repetto continued to grow after her death. Her cause for beatification was officially introduced under the pontificate of Pope Pius XII on March 11, 1949. On July 4, 1968, Pope Paul VI promulgated the decree recognizing the heroic nature of her virtues, thereby declaring her Venerable. An inexplicable healing that occurred through her intercession was the subject of a diocesan canonical inquiry from 1951 to 1953, which was validated by the Congregation of Rites in 1958. This miracle paved the way for her official recognition. On October 4, 1981, Pope John Paul II solemnly proclaimed her Blessed in Saint Peter's Square in Rome. During his homily, the Holy Father declared: "Even more than the door of her convent, she kept her heart open to all, in order to give always and to give everything to God and to the poor, in serenity and joy." Her liturgical feast is set for January 5, the day of her birth into heaven.

The spirituality of Blessed Maria Repetto rests on a fundamental truth that she lived throughout her sixty years of religious life: to contemplate, love, and serve Jesus Christ through the poor. She would say to her sisters: "Be ready to suffer everything from others and to cause no one to suffer." She lived in extreme destitution, preferring to wear the worn and patched clothing of her sisters, while seeing large sums of money offered by wealthy donors pass through her hands, which she hastened to distribute entirely to the needy. Her spiritual legacy remains alive within the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Refuge of Mount Calvary. Her relics are today piously preserved and venerated in the church of the Mother House of the congregation in Genoa, where many faithful continue to come to seek her intercession.