Giuseppina Catanea

Giuseppina's life in the Carmel is marked by the seal of physical suffering, which she embraced as a means of union with Christ and intercession for priests. From 1912, she suffered from severe attacks of angina pectoris. Her health, extremely fragile, deteriorated dramatically after she entered the monastery: she was struck by tuberculosis of the spine (Pott's disease) accompanied by spinal meningism and complete paresis, which left her totally paralyzed and confined to bed. On June 26, 1922, she was miraculously and instantly healed of her paralysis. This healing occurred after she touched a relic of the arm of Saint Francis Xavier, brought into her cell, and following a dream in which the saint had appeared to her. The news of this sudden healing spread rapidly outside the enclosure, and the Ponti Rossi monastery became the convergence point for a crowd of pilgrims, priests, seminarians, and people of all social conditions coming to seek advice, consolation, and prayers from the « monaca santa » (the holy nun). In 1932, the Holy See, under the pontificate of Pius XI, officially recognized the house of Ponti Rossi as a full-fledged monastery of the Order of Discalced Carmelites, under the title of « Carmel of Saints Teresa and Joseph at Ponti Rossi ». On January 30, 1933, Giuseppina officially received the Carmelite habit and took the name Sister Maria Giuseppina di Gesù Crocifisso. She pronounced her solemn vows on August 6, 1933. Recognized for her wisdom and spiritual direction, she was appointed sub-prioress in 1934 by the Archbishop of Naples, Cardinal Alessio Ascalesi. In September 1945, she was elected prioress of her community, a duty she accepted out of obedience and which she would exercise with maternal solicitude until her last breath.

Starting in 1943, Sister Maria Giuseppina entered a new phase of stripping away and suffering. She was afflicted by multiple serious conditions, notably multiple sclerosis, auricular labyrinthitis, and a progressive loss of sight that rendered her nearly blind. In 1944, at the age of 50, she was once again confined to a wheelchair. She considered these infirmities the "sickness of the will of God," a precious gift uniting her more intimately to the mystery of the Cross. She passed away on March 14, 1948, in Naples, in the odor of sanctity. After her death, a striking phenomenon was observed: her body showed no signs of decomposition, remaining supple, colored, and exhaling a pleasant fragrance. In order to allow the immense crowd of faithful to pay their final respects, her funeral and burial were delayed by thirteen days, until March 27, 1948. Doctors from the University of Naples examined her remains and described this phenomenon as inexplicable.

The cause for beatification was introduced very quickly after her death. The diocesan informative process opened in Naples on December 27, 1948, and concluded on February 18, 1952. On April 5, 1976, the cause was officially introduced to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in Rome. On January 3, 1987, Pope John Paul II signed the decree recognizing the heroic nature of her virtues, conferring upon her the title of Venerable. The miracle accepted for her beatification was the scientifically inexplicable healing of the child Francesco Natale. Born on April 21, 1999, this infant was hospitalized in an emergency on June 19, 1999, at the Santobono Hospital in Naples, suffering from a very serious acute viral encephalitis, complicated by perinatal asphyxia, prolonged convulsive syndrome, and a state of shock. While his vital prognosis was compromised and the neurological sequelae seemed irreversible, his family and the Carmelites of Ponti Rossi invoked the intercession of the Venerable Giuseppina Catanea. The child recovered in a rapid, complete, and lasting manner. This miracle was officially approved by a decree of Pope Benedict XVI on December 17, 2007. The beatification ceremony was celebrated on June 1, 2008, in the Cathedral of Naples. The solemn mass was presided over by Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, Archbishop of Naples, while the rite of beatification was presided over by Cardinal José Saraiva Martins, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints and official representative of Pope Benedict XVI.

The spirituality of Blessed Maria Giuseppina di Gesù Crocifisso rests on absolute and joyful abandonment to the divine will. She summarized her ideal of life with this formula: "I want to live by feeding on the will of God... I want my will to become one dough with the will of God." For her, suffering was not a fatality, but a "kiss of God's love" and a privileged means of offering herself as a victim of love for the Church, souls, and the sanctification of priests. In obedience to her spiritual directors, she left important writings, notably an Autobiography (written between 1894 and 1932) and a Spiritual Journal (covering the years 1925 to 1945), which testify to her deep mystical life and her intimate union with the Crucified. Her spiritual legacy remains alive at the Ponti Rossi monastery in Naples, where her mortal remains are piously preserved and venerated in the monastery church. Her liturgical feast is celebrated on June 26, the anniversary of her miraculous healing in 1922, which marked the beginning of her great apostolate of welcome and consolation.